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Ashley Thompson

We love Ashley’s stylish stamping, attention to detail and fab interactivity!

Ashley’s top tips for new crafters:

• Buy crafting magazines that have crafty goodies to start to build your stash of stamps and papers
• Find your own style, don’t compare yourself to others
• Don’t be afraid to experiment. If things go wrong, at the end of the day, what have you lost? A bit of card or paper and ink
• When things get more back to normal, see if you can join a local crafting group to learn more skills and techniques, it’s also fun crafting with others

How long have you been papercrafting?

About 23 years - I started making cards because I wanted something quick to make. I did a lot of cross-stitch cards but they were time consuming, so I got into stamping. I then became a mum of three, and whilst the children were young I concentrated on other crafts. I got back into papercrafting by selling at local craft fairs, but I really found papercrafting to be beneficial last year when I was undergoing treatment for cancer. I discovered the YouTube papercrafting community, and started to enter lots of challenges, which took me out of my comfort zone of cardmaking.

What are your favourite papercraft techniques?

I would say stamping is at the core of everything I do, but I am building my confidence when it comes to using mixed-media techniques. I’ve recently discovered Frantage, which is a powder you don’t need to use with sticky ink. I have dabbled with digital papercrafting and this is something I would like to explore more.

We loved the fact that so much time, effort and detail went into you trio of projects – what inspired your entries?

For cards, I love everything Lavinia and the beautiful eye stamp is a bit different from her whimsical fairies and creatures. Blue is one of my favourite colours and I really enjoy using Brushos. I decided to make a ‘wiper’ card, as I like the element of surprise.

For my second card I used elements from issue three of the IndigoBlu premium magazine, and stuck to my ‘signature style’. I enjoyed using the fairly intricate dies, which is not something I usually do. Again, I made an interactive card, as I like the fun aspect of the secret window. The floral stamps were a joy to use and I’m often inspired by nature.

I made a mini album for my papercrafting project, as I love all things mini - 3x3” cards are my favourite size! It had to be sea themed, as I feel so calm when I’m by it. I also had the fantastic Ocean Blue 8x8” Graphic 45 paper pad. I made a load of my backgrounds using Brushos and Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders and just had fun assembling the cascade mini album using stamps and papers from my stash.

What are your crafting aspirations, on our DT and beyond?

Gosh! I’m still in shock from receiving the news that I was a winner! I would love to be on a range of design teams and who knows, perhaps one day demonstrate on TV! I’m excited by the prospect of designing crafting products too. It would be an absolute dream to think this love of crafting could perhaps become a job one day.

Amy Wilks

Amy’s wonderful project variety instantly caught our eye!

Quick-fire questions:

Guilty pleasure (non-craft):

Alfie Boe

Favourite craft brand:

The most difficult question ever, I like to use products from a range of companies including Hunkydory, Crafter’s Companion, Woodware, Trimcraft, Sizzix to name just a few!

Three crafts products you couldn’t live without:

Die-cutting machine, a good paper trimmer and patterned/plain paper (and lots of it!)

How long have you been papercrafting?

I started papercrafting about 13 years ago, shortly after my oldest daughter was born. Whilst on maternity leave, I visited a local stationery shop and noticed that they sold cardmaking supplies. I bought a few products and was totally hooked! Little did I know then that my small box of cardmaking supplies, along with my passion for crafting, would grow and grow! I have been known to spend hours making one card!

What’s the best advice (craft-related or otherwise) you’ve ever received, and from whom?

My Mum has always said that you should ‘take responsibility of your own happiness’ and this is why I decided to enter the competition. It has been my dream for many years to design and make cards to inspire others. When I saw the competition advertised in the magazine, I decided to send off my entry and I still cannot believe that I am one of the winners. Over the years, especially the last 12 months, which have been so difficult for so many people, crafting has definitely provided me with plenty of happiness!

What are your favourite papercraft techniques?

I enjoy all papercraft techniques, but my favourites are die-cutting and stamping. I love the endless creative possibilities and trying to think outside of the box on how I can use them in as many different ways as possible. Stamping also provides you with opportunities for colouring, paper-piecing and fussy cutting, all techniques I enjoy using on my cards and projects.

We loved the variety of styles showcased in your projects – what inspired your entries?

I thought about my projects for many weeks before I started making them and I only posted them off two days before the deadline! I really wanted to showcase a variety of papercraft techniques and use different card shapes and colour palettes in my work. I chose babies and birthdays as occasions for my cards as these are two fantastic reasons to celebrate and to send cards for. I also combined some older products with some more recently released products to showcase how they can be used together. For my calendar, I enjoyed thinking of the different occasions that can be celebrated each month and incorporating these into each page.

Jessica Jenkins

Jessica’s clean and concise colour took her projects to the next level!

Quick-fire questions:

Song that always gets you on the dancefloor…

Anything by S Club 7

Favourite-ever book…

Harry Potter

Favourite craft brand…

Simon Says Stamp

How long have you been papercrafting?

I have always been quite creative; I remember making cards in secondary school, but they weren’t very good! It was about seven years ago; my Nan (a big cardmaker herself) gave me my first die-cutting machine to make some wedding invitations for a friend and then it just went on from there! I started my first scrapbook when I met my fiancé nearly six years ago, and just naturally got into cardmaking. I became more serious about cardmaking as a hobby two years ago and then took the plunge to start my own YouTube channel in March 2020, to try and turn my hobby into a full-time job.

What are your crafting aspirations, on our DT and beyond?

My biggest aspiration is to have a job I am passionate and enthusiastic about, I want to turn my hobby into a career. I would love to start my own range of stamps, dies, papers and everything in between! And being in with a chance to make this a reality, is simply amazing. I also love being part of a design team, getting to play with new products and finding different ways to inspire other crafters.

How does it feel to be a Cardmaker of the Year 2021 winner?

I’m not sure it has really sunk in yet! I was speechless, which is so unlike me!! This is such a big opportunity, which I am very grateful for; I hope this is another step closer to achieving my goals. I never thought that I would be a winner, there are so many talented crafters out there, I wasn’t sure that I had a chance! But you must be in it to win it as my dad says!

We loved variety of stamping and colouring on your three projects – what inspired your entries?

I wanted to create something that was cohesive, so my main inspiration came from the colour scheme I picked, blues and browns. I thought this would work well with springtime flowers and the farm scene. I love colouring with alcohol markers and big florals are perfect for adding depth and detail. I like to create scenes as well with lots of smaller images, the colouring doesn’t need to be so detailed, but when it all comes to together, it just works!

Sharon-Elaine Jones

We're obsessed with Sharon-Elaine Jones’s superb die-cutting collection!

Sharon-Elaine Jones’s top tips for new crafters?

• Never give up, if you’re trying a new technique and you don’t think it’s quite right, just try again.
• Join CraftWorld, there’s a whole load of inspiration to get you crafting, and lots of fabulous, friendly crafters ready to help you out if you get stuck!

How long have you been papercrafting?

Since I was about 13 years old, when I took part in a summer holiday craft club and made a 3D decoupage card. It was a hand cut Sad Sam dog design layered with foam sticky pads, and my mum still has it in her scrapbook. At secondary school, I discovered quilling, and made a quilled dragon for my Art exam. Since school, I’ve tried origami, paper flower making, book folding, die-cutting, stamping and recently, digital papercrafting.

How does it feel to be a Cardmaker of the Year 2021 winner?

Absolutely amazing, I still can’t quite believe it I genuinely didn’t expect to be a winner! I entered because I wanted to challenge myself to produce something unique to show you, even if I didn’t win. I remember packing my entries and hugging the box before taking it to the Post Office, never expecting to see the items again, so it’s really exciting to see them in the magazine!

We loved the intricate die-cutting on your projects – what inspired your entries?

Thank you! The colours inspired me for two of the projects, I really like working with shades of a colour, and I’m totally obsessed with all things floral, so it had to be flowers. The layered flowers just worked so well in shades of coral, but I didn’t want to arrange whole flowers in the centre of the card, so went for the opposite and arranged them around the edge.

The shadow box wasn’t going to be a tunnel effect, but I had a lightbulb moment when choosing the pink card, and it just evolved! The spinning shaker card design came about last year when I wanted to make a spinner card and shaker card, and wondered if I could combine the two together. Gave it a go and it worked!

Do you listen to anything whilst crafting? If so what was the last thing you listened to?

I usually have a CD playing whilst crafting, and the last one I listened to was Pop Art - The Hitsby Pet Shop Boys.

Capsule Collection

Part of the amazing Cardmaker Of The Year prize is to design a Capsule Collection with CraftStash, one of our four winners will get this opportunity! We asked each of our winners to provide us with a brief to tell us what their ideal range would look like! We need YOU to go and vote for your winner, and you could be in with a chance of winning a £25 voucher for CraftStash! CLICK HERE to find the collections and make you vote!