The Best of British Scrapbooking & Cardmaking

Giselle Homer: 'I have always done lots of different crafts over the years but scrapbooking has really appealed to me like no other. It's practically taken over my life and definitely taken over one of my spare bedrooms (now called The Craft Room!!) The main reason is because it's a craft that has personal significance - the focus of each page is always a photo of family and friends.

So, having been swept away by enthusiasm for what scrapbooking is about and thinking that 'nothing ventured is nothing gained', I submitted 10 layouts. If you knew me you would understand that once I'd entered I really didn't think much more about it. That's because I have never won anything in my whole life ... unless you count a small tin of toffees at a school raffle when I was only eleven!

I was tempted to enter not because of the prizes on offer, although they were much appreciated, but by the thought of how great it would be to see my layouts published - especially as some contain photos of my two lovely daughters and grandson - they would be thrilled too.

Funnily enough, after I'd submitted the layouts a friend at Bristol Scrappers Club told me that she thought I should enter. I was really encouraged by what she said, and now I will always trust her judgement in future!'

Sam Everett: 'I actually crop regularly with two of the other Best of British winners, Anne Parry and Venessa Matthews, so we encouraged each other to enter. It was a case of ' Well I'll enter if you enter' so we helped each other pick which layouts we would submit. It was actually quite nice having someone to hold my hand, so to speak, whilst getting my entry ready and one layout which I submitted that is going to be used in the book is one that I wouldn't have bothered with if Anne hadn't said ' I think you should enter that one' - and I know she had the same thing with one of her layouts. It was also great that three of us were away on a cropping weekend together when we received our calls, though it was very difficult to keep it quiet!'

Mandy Anderson: 'I have been scrapbooking for about two years now and love every second that I spend scrapping, thinking about scrapping and dreaming about scrapping. I enjoy creating new layouts and spend hours thinking of ideas, and have notebooks to jot down ideas wherever I am. I have even been known to get up in the middle of the night to sketch a layout, and consider myself a true addict.

I was very uncertain about entering the Best of British competition, as although I LOVE my layouts, I was apprehensive and overwhelmed at the thought of being judged on them. I had never entered any competitions before and hadn't even submitted to any magazines, so it really was a first for me and I found the whole process very nerve racking.

I had a lot of encouragement from friends, who all said that I should enter, but it wasn't until I met Mary Anne at the Scrapmanic crop this year and she suggested that I should enter that I finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it. I figured that 'you had to be in it to win it', and I really had nothing to lose, but despite all that I still found that sending my precious layouts out was one of the scariest things I have ever done, and as I handed them over to the lady at the Post Office my stomach was jumping all over the place.

I am so glad that I overcame my worries and believed in my work, and am absolutely thrilled to be amongst the prestigious company of the Best of British Scrapbookers.'

Sarah Wheatley: 'I entered the competition as more than one friend/scrapper had persuaded me to do so. I was generally pleased with the standard and quality of my work, but wasn't sure if I had an actual style. I think it's only when you do put together a number of pages for a competition that you do in fact see similarities and trends flowing through. I like to go for strong, bold colours, but still keeping the overall feel uncluttered, making the photographs the main focus of the layouts.

I was absolutely thrilled to be one of the Best of British winners. In fact as the deadline had passed by some weeks, I naturally assumed that I had been unlucky and had not been chosen this year. Being picked has certainly inspired me to be even more creative and inventive.'

Carrie Howard: I hadn't really thought about entering the competition until speaking to Mary-Anne one day at Scrapmagic crop, she just encouraged me to submit my work and said what did I have to lose. After I went home I looked through my album and picked some of my favourite layouts and posted them off. I never dreamt that I would get picked as a BOB winner and I'm thrilled that I was. I'd recommend to anyone if you do a page you're proud of, send it off to a magazine or competition you never know next time it could be you!

Venessa Matthews: 'One of the judges realised that the reason they could not get hold of four of the winners was because we were all at a weekend crop in Canterbury. So, one phonecall was made to Jane Dean's mobile phone and one by one we were called out to be given "our call". The minute Sam Everett was called, everyone at the crop realised what was going on and you could feel the excitement in the hall. I was the third person to get the call and felt really silly when I insisted that we had a bad line and that I could not hear anything. It was only when I handed the phone to Anne Parry, that I realised I had had the phone back to front. I couldn't stop laughing at my stupidity. So to date I am still not even sure what was said during that conversation, but still find myself laughing at my silly incident!'

Michelle Thompson: 'I was the missing announcee, as I was on holiday in Italy over the time period of the Best of British announcements, and Mary Anne did her darnedest to locate me. She even phoned up my work number but was given little information by my co-worker, other than that I was on holiday. So, a week after everybody else knew of the winners, and were speculating about who I might be, I returned home to a voicemail message on my home phone. I rang Mary Anne shortly after to hear my news. I think she was possibly expecting a bit more joy from my end, but as I'd been suffering from quite a few weeks of bronchitis, and had just been traveling for quite a few hours, during the phone call I could barely speak. Despite all of this, the news was fantastic as this was my first ever competition entry.'

Alison Rowe: I saw on my mobile phone that I had a missed call with a local area number, so I rang it back, assuming it was a friend. Mary Anne picked up the phone at the other end and said "Is this Alison Rowe? This is Mary Anne, do you know who I am?" I thought to myself - you're the UKS exacto queen and you're one of the judges on the Best of British team - but I just said a little "um, yes..." When she told me that I was a finalist in the competition I just went very silent, on account of the big cheesy grin that was preventing me from talking! She then told me that I also have the amazing honour of one of my layouts being used for the front cover of the Best of British book - I was dumbfounded (and anyone that knows me, knows that I am very seldom speechless!)

I could hardly tell my husband and daughter what this meant to me straight after the call as I was still in silent, this-can't-be-for-real mode, but I can tell you now that this means the world to me. I create layouts to preserve photos and memories for my family and it is an amazing pleasure when someone else thinks that you've done a good job of that. I am so honoured and thrilled to be a Best of British winner.

Alison Docherty: 'I was really surprised and pleased to win. I entered thinking that I would have a go, but I never expected to win - I was hoping for an honorable mention!!! I don't normally enter competitions.

My call story was rather funny really. Obviously Joanna had been trying to reach me at home, but I was in London at a meeting. She rang a few times but wouldn't leave a message with my husband. I got home at about 10.00 pm and my husband told me that a lady was going to ring at about 11.00 pm. I stayed up, but no-one rang, so I went to bed!!! Next day I went onto UK Scrappers as normal and looked in the Best of British thread, where they had announced the winners. I looked down the list, only to find my name - I nearly fell off the chair! I sent Mary Anne a message to confirm that that was the case!!!! Joanna rang me later in the morning to say I'd won - I probably didn't jump around as much when she told me as I'd already found out!!!'