Sharon Curtis is our latest addition to the Sizzix Hochanda presenting team, and we’re really looking forward to working alongside her. Sharon is a keen papercrafter who has been creating all her life, and is a previous winner of Simply Cards and Papercraft’s Designer of the year competition in 2012.
We sat down with Sharon Curtis to find out a bit about her, here is what she had to say:
When did you first start learning to craft?
I’ve always enjoyed art and as a child I used to do a lot of drawing – pencil sketches of dogs and horses mainly. My interest in crafting started in 2002, when my sister asked me to make her wedding stationery for her. I created 100 invites, the order of service, place names, table numbers and a seating plan! Now I look back with some experience, I realise quite how ambitious that first project was, but thankfully they did turn out well! That was the beginning of my obsession. As I had to buy quite a few supplies to make the wedding stationery, I used the leftovers by making cards, and the following year I bought my first die-cutting machine – the Sizzix original red machine.
How did you get into crafting as a job?
After I’d been crafting for a few years, I started applying for design teams, and was lucky enough to get on a number of the UK crafts magazine design teams. The big step into it being a job happened in 2012, when I won Card Designer of the Year in Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine. Part of the prize was to be a designer for the magazine for a year. At the end of that year they asked me to continue designing for them, and in addition I started designing for other publications, and more design teams, and it has kept growing from there.
What’s a normal work day like for you?
I’m a really organised person, which I know is quite unusual for a crafter! Before I start work each day, I like to plan out what I’m going to do – if I’m preparing for a show, then I’ll usually allow most of the day for the crafting side of things, then set aside time for computer time and taking photos of my projects. If I don’t do that then I end up swapping between the two and I get less done!
What are you looking forward to most about presenting on Hochanda?
The thing that excites me most when crafting, is getting a new die or stamp and thinking of different ways to use that product. I use that excitement for my show prep, I love being able to pass on those ideas. I hope by demonstrating the techniques I learn, I can inspire everyone to give them a go.
Look out for Sharon Curtis on the Hochanda channel Sky 663, Freeview 85 and Freesat 817.
