"They are incredibly supportive and I can count on them for a good, honest critique when asked. John (my hubby) has been a long suffering widower to the clay on many a night and day! He did have a go making a clay sculpture once and was very proud of his little alien!"

Although her husbands "alien" might be a topic jokingly discussed at family dinners, talent and creativity surround Nicky. Her father paints miniature pictures occasionally as a sideline to his full size works, her mother makes "gorgeous" handmade cards, her sister paints, her daughter has taken up her mother's former occupation of sugar flower sculptures, her son draws and makes miniature scenes and her niece makes cloth dolls and is in her first year of fashion college.

There are few people who can say that their work is displayed in a museum, but for Nicky this dream came true at the very beginning of her doll-making career.

"I was incredibly lucky on this front, after making just three dolls I was approached by Lori Kagan Moore who asked if I would be interested in helping out on her 'little project' - making dolls for a fabulous dolls house museum in Kentucky (the Great American Dolls House Museum). A few hundred of my dolls are now in residence there. I also have a few dolls in residence in a couple of other museums, something I am immensely proud of."

When she's not sculpting the perfect doll or adding the final touch to a little field mouse, Nicky tries to squeeze in some time for her favorite hobbies and activities. Like most people, she dreams of having the freedom to indulge, without limits, her personal collections.

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