Working mums have no easy task trying to juggle roles as housemaid, cook, taxi driver and nurse, as well as having a career and earning extra money.

But energetic Tracey Krupianka, who takes everything in her fast-paced stride, has gone that bit further by fulfiling her dream of opening a folk art shop in Otley - and she made almost all of the products in the shop herself.

Not only that, she laid the carpet herself as well as decorating and transforming the former equestrian shop into the veritable art gallery it is today.

Husband Victor, who runs his own gym, even worked in Market Street in the middle of the night putting the sign up outside the shop.

Tracey, 36, said: "When I put the carpet down I had to lift the cabinet up and then put the carpet under it, it was really hard work, but I was determined to do it.

"Victor and I have been like ships that pass in the night recently, I'd leave the shop at night and he'd arrive after midnight to do the dirty work!"

Tracey has been artistic from her school days when she studied A level art and has opened the shop - called Something Different - to sell her unusual work.

Tracey paints pictures, as well as decorating glass and wood with beautiful and intricate flowers in every colour under the sun, and then often finishes them off with glitter and a pearl glaze.

The talented artist collects her inspiration from absolutely anything and her pictures range from vast empty Australian beaches at sunset to storm clouds and lightening over the Chevin.

Folk art is very well known in Australia and America, but is only just becoming more prominent in the UK, where it is called decorative painting.

The art form is quite versatile and cheap to do, and all sorts of items can be decorated, from glass to plastics, wood and even candles and fabrics.

There is a room above the new shop and Tracey hopes to start art classes after Christmas to pass on her skills to people in Wharfedale.

Tracey specialises in the glass painting, but has also decorated wood, as well as painting framed pictures.

When decorating glass, Tracey paints on anything from 2ft vases to perfume bottles, fish bowls to candle holders and paints all the flowers and pictures freehand.

"People often see my work and think I've used a stencil, but I'd never do that, it's just not the same as painting freehand," she said.

The process of glass painting isn't a long one and Tracey can rattle off five or six items in an hour, which is definitely a labour of love for her.

The glass is put in an oven for half an hour after it has been painted, and then intricately and painstakingly decorated afterwards.

"When my daughters come in from school and smell a funny smell, I tell them we're having vases for tea because the oven is full of them!" she said.

Tracey, who lives in The Gills, Otley, lived in Australia for seven years because husband Victor, who is British-born, half Ukrainian and half Italian, has Australian residency.

"When I was in Australia I was really homesick and said I would love a shop in Otley where I could sell my work.

"Now it's happened, it really is my dream come true.

"I was so determined to get the shop and that's the way I've been all my life, I'll go out and get what I want, I don't just sit around."

The determination and energy she possesses certainly showed, especially when she talked about her jobs through the years, including aerobics teacher and trained butcher.

She said: "I have never just waited for a job to come to me when I've needed one, I've seen one - whatever it may be - and I've got it somehow."

Tracey and Victor, who runs a gym in Leeds, married and lived in Perth, where Tracey discovered she was pregnant with identical twins Sarah and Vanessa, who are now seven.

"My residency came through in March 1994 and mum was really worried because I was pregnant," said Tracey.

"She couldn't believe it when we found out I was expecting twins."

But the hectic time after the twins were born didn't put Tracey off taking up folk art lessons in Perth and when the teacher left Tracey jumped at the offer to take over the position - and since then she's never looked back.

Tracey is completely dedicated to her art, and sees it as a method of relaxation.

"I really enjoy painting and I find it therapeutic - I've always been artistic and I think that I can see differently to other people.

"When I look at the Chevin, it looks different at different times of day. On a morning it looks so full and three dimensional, at midday it's quite bland and at night it is three dimensional again and looks lovely.

"I'm hoping to be able to paint the Chevin when it snows, I think it will look magnificent."

After what Tracey describes as a 'hectic few years, with a bit longer to go', things are certainly settling down nicely for her.

Her family lives in the area and Tracey is glad to be back in the UK now both her and Victor have achieved their dreams.

She said: "I've got my shop and Victor's got his Gym, the girls are at The Whartons Primary School and I really feel like we're getting somewhere now - our dreams have come true."

Tracey can obviously turn her hand to just about anything, be it aerobics instructing, chopping meat, laying carpets or painting, nothing seems to be beyond her.

Before I left, she jovially said: "I've got the lease here for three years, if this sort of shop doesn't work out, I'll sell biscuits or something, but I won't just give up - that's not me!"