Introducing TWO New Design Team Members!!

You may recall towards the end of last year I put out a Design Team call.

The response was fantastic and I'd like to thank everyone who applied. There were so many talented Scrapbookers and it was so tough choosing but in the end after much consideration I finally came to a decision and today I'm excited to introduce you to the two talented ladies who will be joining the S J Crafts team for an initial 3 month term, and possibly longer!

So, first up please meet:

Annie Claxton

Hi there, my name is Annie and I’m chuffed to bits to be joining the SJ Crafts Design Team.

I live in a tiny cottage in Norfolk with my husband. I have two sons, a stepdaughter and two step-grandchildren who provide me with a constant source of photos for my scrapbooks.

Scrapbooking is my passion, but I also enjoy all sorts of other arts and crafts such as crochet, bead-making and drawing, and I love incorporating these into my pages. I make cards, tags and mini books too, and more recently I've been experimenting with art journals, smash books and "off-the-page" projects.

"Laugh, Love, Learn, Live" by Annie Claxton

My scrapping style is constantly evolving, but at the moment I love combining bright colours, layering patterns and using lots of contrasting textures to make fun pages like the example above which you can see more of here!. 

I often use recycled and found items and really enjoy creating unique homemade embellishments.

All my crafty ideas and endeavours are recorded on my blog, ArtyFartyAnnie along with a sprinkling of everyday life – I'd love you to pop over and say hello. 

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And please meet our 2nd new DT member:

Jemma Sharrock

 Hello!  I’m Jemma and scrapbooking has been a passion of mine since 2006 when I went to an all-day "crop-in-a-shop" in Holland, raided my Dutch friend’s stash and then discovered the UKScrappers community.  My scrap-subjects are the family, our holidays and milestones and occasional randomness for my BOM (Book of Me).  While I wait for our kids (two boys and a girl) to find partners and produce grandchildren, I have to raid our photo-archives to scrap babies and toddlers.

"Around The World" By Jemma

My other hobbies include reading, vegetable gardening, sewing, the theatre and geocaching ... it's a good job that I only work part-time.
I have a blog - "Just Jimjams" where I post stories and layouts about our adventures in Cheshire (where we now live) and elsewhere.  While the mathematician in me likes clean and simple rather than messy and inky, my inner-crafter loves to hand-make embellishments and titles and sew on my pages. I’m really honoured to be joining the S J Crafts design team and can’t wait to get started!

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So, a huge welcome to Jemma and Annie as they join the existing Design Team of Jennifer, Louise, Lisa-jane and Jenny who are all staying on for 2014!

You will see more of their work right here very soon but in the meantime please do pop over to their blogs and say Hi!!

SJ Crafts Design Team Call!

Would you like to join our Design Team?

Don't worry, the current Design Team aren't going anywhere right now, in fact I'm delighted that they've all just agreed to stay on for 2014! However I would like to expand the team so we are on the look out for another talented crafter (or maybe two!) to join us. The DT spot will initially be for a 3 month term (February - April 2014), with the possibility of staying on longer term.

Interested? Then read on for how to apply!
Don't worry if you've never been on a Design Team before - previous experience is absolutely not necessary! But you do need to be UK based and have your own active blog!

What we'll ask of the new Design Team Member(s):

• Create projects/layouts and write at least two blog posts with clear photographs from each Design Team package of stash.
• Upload these blog posts to the DT blog by a set deadline (we'll tell you more about how to do this once appointed!)
• You must be prepared to post on your own blog with links to the S J Crafts shop and blog to coincide with your DT posts going live. We will also require that you have the SJ Crafts button on your blog sidebar.
•  Actively participate on the SJ Crafts Facebook Page and assist with the positive promotion of SJ Crafts on any social media / forums you belong to. (eg: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, UK Scrappers). We will be looking for someone with a strong online presence!
• You must be passionate about crafting! Our main customer base is scrapbookers, so we would prefer that  you enjoy some form of memory keeping, but other papercrafts like card-making or home-decor items would be helpful.
• You must be able to work to deadlines, work well as a team and encourage and support the rest of the DT.
• We are planning some special online/blog events during 2014 and should you stay on longer you will be asked to participate in the planning, promoting, creating and writing for such events.

What you receive for being on the Design Team:

• You will receive a generous amount of papercrafting goodies to work with and to create projects/layouts for your DT posts.
• Sometimes you will be sent additional items to use for special online/blog events.
• A generous DT discount to use at S J Crafts for your own shopping throughout your DT term.
• Links back to your own blog from the shop blog - both in our blog sidebar and your blog posts and special mentions on the SJ Crafts Facebook page and Twitter feed
• You'll also get lots of encouragement and support from Sarah (SJ Crafts owner) and the rest of the team and hopefully you will enjoy the experience of being on the team.

Still interested? Yes? Then here's how to apply:
Send an email to dtapply@sjpapercrafts.co.uk by Monday 6th January 2014 11.59pm GMT. 

Your email should include:

Your Name

A little bit about you and your crafts (eg: what crafts you have experience in, how long you've been crafting, any current/past DT teams etc)

A Link To Your Blog

Details of (and if you can include links to) any Social Media/On line Forums/communities you participate in.
Photos and brief details of 3 of your craft projects which best showcase your craft talent (see below)

We would like you to include in your email application photos of 3 different projects (1 photo of each project only). If possible please ensure your photos are no bigger than 700pix square. If you want to show us more photos (such as more pages of a mini-book or detail shots of a scrapbook layout) then please provide a link to the blog post or online album where we can see the photos. Please don't attach more than 3 photos to the email. 

If you have written tutorials and/or tips on your blog in the past then you can include a link to one or two of these as well.

The new DT member will be contacted in the middle/end of January so they can be ready to join us for the start of February.

As I mentioned at the start please don't be put off if you've never been on a DT before or applied - We're so looking forward to hearing all about YOU!

Sarah x