Meet the Maker: Emily Dawe

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what your work involves:

Hello, I'm Emily! I am an interior stylist, journalist, blogger, creative workshop tutor and, most recently, an author – phew! I live in Brixton, London, with my Kiwi husband Cameron.

My main crafting passion is papercraft, I love how versatile this medium is – it can be ripped, quilled, folded, cut, scored, scribbled and painted on! So most of my crafts involve this wonderful (cheap and accessible) medium. I teach all sorts of creative workshops at events, and at Kirstie's Handmade Fair; from quilling to marbling, lino printing to modern calligraphy. I absolutely love to teach- it brings me so much pleasure.

And most recently, I have had my first book published, Paper Christmas, which is full of gorgeous contemporary and on-trend projects, suitable for all skill levels, including projects you can do with the kids (and includes all the right size templates!)…more about that a little later!

How did you first become involved in the arts?

I have always been a little crafter, ever since I was tiny. I loved getting creative at any opportunity, glue and glitter were a permanent fixture at our dining table! I would enter every art and colouring competition going- I even met the queen! After my Art Foundation at Kingston, I went on to study Illustration at The University of Brighton, which was the perfect course for me as it was so varied. One day we'd be life drawing, the next book binding, it made me realise the wealth of skills I had.

After leaving uni, I worked in magazines for over a decade, working on the Home and Craft pages of Woman's Weekly, Woman and Home and Style at Home. So I was lucky enough to still be using my creativity but in a very different way! Then, just two years ago, I decided to spread my wings and take the leap into the wonderful world of freelancing. Getting back to my creative roots feels great and I wished I'd done it sooner.

How do you use your Cricut machine within your projects? Do you find yourself using the same type of material within the machine, or do you like to mix it up?

My Cricut machine is my wonderful sidekick, it saves me so much time when I am having to cut multiple leaves for a wreath, cut out the perfect circle or more intricate designs. I do find I mostly use it with paper, but I did create a Frida Khalo t-shirt design from vinyl for my blog earlier this year which was pretty cool. I am in the process of creating a selection of gorgeous little projects for my nursery, all using the Cricut, so that's very exciting – head over to www.emilydawe.com/blog to see what I create!

What was the very first project you made with your Cricut machine, and what learnings did you take from it?

I was lucky enough to have a one-on-one crafternoon with Cricut's expert Suzie Candlin, where she showed me how versatile the Cricut machine can be. We made all sorts of things that day, from some geometric art (on my blog!) some of the cool 3D projects that you can download on Cricut's Design space as well as using the stick on and iron-on vinyl.

What three tips would you give to someone looking to form a consistent style for their work?

1. Be true to yourself and your style. It's all too easy to fall down a rabbit hole on Pinterest and Instagram and worry that you're not creating the 'in thing'. By all means get inspired by what you see, but don't just recreate what others are already doing.
2. Play around to find out what mediums and techniques you enjoy and run with them! I am loving involving gold leaf and splatter techniques into my work at the moment, so I'm going with that for a while! I want to get back into typography next.
3. Enjoy what you do! There's no point doing what you do if you don't enjoy it. It seems like an obvious thing to say, but if you don't wake up in the morning full of excitement about the creative work you're going to produce, then you need to rethink what you're making. Try going on some creative workshops to learn some new skills, switch off and get mindful.

What's next for you?

Well as I previously mentioned, I have a book out this year – Paper Christmas – published by Search Press. I have already had such an amazing response to it, with many of my projects getting featured in various magazines and blogs. So I am busy promoting that by teaching workshops from the book. I am also running a modern calligraphy workshop with West Elm amongst others – look on my website and Instagram for where you'll find me teaching next!

My 'side hustle' The RE-Vision is growing day by day, too, which is super exciting! Me and my friend Becks have launched a crafty, DIY YouTube channel and blog which encourages people to get creative whatever their budget or skill. www.instagram.com/lovetherevision www.therevision.co.uk