We are excited about our recent interview with Samantha Calcott, our new designer - the brains behind our soon to be released new brand, Made To Surprise. We talked about her interests, the beginning of her crafting career, and some curious facts that we didn't expect! It was an inspiring and exciting interview, Sam has such a positive, charismatic and hard-working spirit. Read Sam’s story… Taking action from an early age Sam has always had a knack for crafting. From a very young age, she used to make scrapbook albums every summer. Her parents would make Sam and her sister make a scrapbook about the summer holidays: going to the zoo, the park, visiting the museum, etc. They used to add pictures of their adventures and collect the tickets from museums, cinemas, and add them to the book. In fact, to this day she still has all those scrapbooks in her loft from decades ago! This somewhat of a summer hobby made her become more creative and drawn into the crafting world. In addition, she loves sewing and used to make her own clothes and even have her own line, but without a doubt, her favourite craft is painting and colouring. Sam has been creating cards for friends and family forever. However, she took this hobby seriously about 6-7 years ago, when she moved abroad. Sam had spent 16 years in fashion retail management before this beautiful hobby became her current professional career. Sam started sharing her cards and designs on Social Media, and people were asking her how she made them. Due to this fabulous reaction, her mum suggested making Youtube tutorials. In January 2017, Mixed Up Craft was born and she started her very own YouTube channel & blog. Everything has grown very quickly from there, and since she returned to the UK she's now been able to fully focus on her crafting, mainly her most enjoyable art: painting and especially watercolouring. She started working with Craftstash from June 2019, and she is now looking forward to having a successful collaboration with us, the release of her first collection and the planning of many more to come.   About our lovely Sam Here are four interesting facts we didn't expect from Sam...

• Sam’s dream job was to be a forensic pathologist. This is completely different and nothing to do with crafting – it’s all about looking at dead bodies!
• She has walked along the Great Wall of China. She was lucky enough to enjoy that view with only three people in total! Sam stayed with a local family on a really remote farm, and ate local food, hiked to the ruins, and watched the sunrise… it sounds like she had a great time, doesn’t it?
• In addition, Sam has abseiled a 140 meters building, which is absolutely terrifying when you realise this is the same height as the Deansgate Square West Tower in Manchester!
• One of the small things that make her day better is Tunnock’s teacakes. She eats one of those treats everyday, alongside strong tea!

We always see Sam wearing large jewellery during her tutorials, does she consider herself obsessed with her jewellery? In fact, she has been sent different rings from people that have been supporting her channel over the years – and now has over 300 rings! She ensures you won’t see her without one of these amazing rings in her video tutorials. We also wanted to know if Sam has any fear, and she confessed her phobia of spiders with a funny story about her childhood: Sam used to live in a very old house that has very thick floorboards, with big gaps between them. She literally filled every single hole with toilet paper to prevent spiders from climbing from there! Eventually, her father laid a carpet for her. How is the future looking? Sam feels very excited and nervous at the same time: Are people going to like her collection? She certainly sleeps better when Made to Surprise is launched.