Kind, creative, nature inspired craft workshops caring for you and the planet and helping us to all Grow Bright.
Growing Bright provides nature art and craft workshops.
We use natural and recycled materials; giving them a new lease of beautiful life and caring for the environment at the same time.
I’m Lisa
I setup Growing Bright in 2022 after re-discovering what I wanted to do with my life after the pandemic. I worked as a lawyer for 10 years, but nature and creativity has always featured heavily in my life.
I’ve always loved gardening and grew up helping my Dad on his allotment and learning a multitude of crafts from my Mum and Gran. I was signed up for Art A-levels before switching to academic subjects and the same at University – switching from law to fashion and back to law!
As with many people, Covid changed a lot of things for me and I realised that I needed to focus on my wellbeing and my family and do what I love. I studied some short courses, including Social and Therapeutic Horticulture with Thrive and a Level 2 Counselling qualification. I also volunteered at the wonderful Horatio’s Garden, Lindengate and the Chiltern Neuro Centre. After taking stock of all of my new experiences, Growing Bright was born!
I absolutely love coming up with ideas of things to make (always inspired by nature and upcycling) and how to make them as eco as possible. The icing on the cake is being able to share the creativity with people during my workshops. Growing Bright has brought so much to my life and I want to share this with people and Grow Bright with them.
Events
CraftyCoffee
Join me, once a month at The Akeman in Tring for a Crafty Coffee! Each month, I will guide you through a simple craft using natural or recycled materials, being kind to our people and planet.
Relax – Chat – Treat Yourself – Get Creative
Hapa Zome bookmarks
Thursday 17th April 10:30 – 12:00
Pressing the dye from leaves to make beautiful designs on a bookmark
Cork keyrings
Thursday 14th May 10:30 – 12:00
Decorating champagne corks with decoupage and pressed flowers and attaching a keyring fixing – great for keys or attaching to zips or bags
Summer Collage
Thursday 18 June 10:30 – 12:00
Using magazines, we’ll make summer themed artwork. You could use this as a notebook cover, a greetings card or to display at home.
Booking essential. To book a CraftyCoffee session please complete the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Natural Crafts at College Lake
This session is a privilege. We get to forage around the woodland for natural materials, take them back to the barn with the woodburner on, have a cuppa and a biscuit and make lovely things with the materials we gathered. This is such a warm and welcoming group of likeminded people who love having a little time to switch of in nature. If you want to experience a bit of this magic, do come along.
26 March – 10:30 – 12:30 Easter Tins
Bringing the popular Easter session to College Lake! We’ll have an experiment with Hapa Zome (leaf bashing) to decorate paper with natures ink to then decoupage our tins with.
23 April – Hapa Zome Workshop
Thursday, Apr 23, 2026 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
£20 + booking fee
Hapa Zome is the technique of pressing the dye from leaves to create a decorative pattern on paper or fabric. In this workshop, you will use leaves to make a beautiful design on an organic cotton drawstring bag.
21 May – Tension Tray Workshop
Thursday, May 21, 2026 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
£20 + booking fee
Using only twigs, I will show you how to weave these into a basic tension tray, useful for drying herbs or flowers and grasses, or serving tea and biscuits in the garden.
Chiltern Arts Festival –
Mandalas and Music at College Lake | Children’s Craft Workshop
Saturday 16th May 2026, 9:45 am – 11:00 am
£6
Join me for a hands-on nature-inspired craft workshop at College Lake. Children can choose either to use natural materials, or simple drawing patterns to create their own Mandala; this is an opportunity to take inspiration from this beautiful place and enjoy spending time with nature. While little ones get creative, listen to gentle, calming music to complete the experience!
All children must be supervised; we request no more than 1 adult per participating child.
Limited places: Booking essential
Recommended for ages 5–12
Chiltern Arts Festival –
Mindful Mandalas and Music | Discover College Lake
Saturday 16th May 2026, 11:45 am – 2:15 pm
£15
Join me for a mindful nature-inspired craft workshop at College Lake. I will show you how to use simple drawing patterns to create your own Mandala, inspired by shapes and patterns in the natural environment. Forage for inspiration, and then take a couple of hours to relax and settle into a mindful, creative place: time away from the everyday in the beautiful nature reserve. While you draw, enjoy music from members of Trio Farben to enhance your creative journey.
Places are Limited: Booking Essential
Recommended minimum age 13
PubCraft – Thursday evenings at The Stag in Mentmore
Pubcraft is usually a couple of hours long, but I’m shortening the winter sessions slightly so we can get out for a quick burst of social creativity and still have time to get home and put pj’s on and have a cuppa before an early night!
To book a PubCraft session please complete the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Upcoming dates TBC