Hi all,
So as you will know, if you are an avid reader of ours, that last weekend we were fortunate to be part of a TV show called Crafty Beggars.
We stumbled across the application a fair while ago and just thought ‘why not?’ We applied and went to meet the presenters and Hobby Craft, who sponsored the show, and were invited to be on the show.
The premise of the show is a two team competition where both teams have a £20 budget to spend on materials. They have a day to beg, borrow and buy all they need and make everything they want to sell the next day on a craft stall. The idea really is to spend as little as possible by being frugal and upcycling.
In the beginning we brainstormed (or mind mapped – ay, ay) and had tonnes of ideas from cork coasters, twig decorations, drift wood signs and map items. We thought about what the cheapest materials were we could use, aiming for low cost but with a high quantity and we decided that our best bet was felt! We love felt!
We planned and re-planned and planned again. There were sheets and lists and phone calls and recce’s!
In the end we narrowed what we were going to make down to felt brooches and necklaces, heart cork boards and beaded jewellery – we figured (even though sometimes it feels like it) that we aren’t super human and that unfortunately there aren’t enough hours in the day to make everything we had original wanted to.
We planned everything in detail including our stall:
Ooo look at that! Pretty!
So after all the prepping and planning the day of filming arrived… well actually before that there was the manic rush home from work on the Friday evening, piling everything into the car (so much stuff) and quickly scoffing dinner. Then there was the frantic rush to Brighton and final preparations! Oh yeah and not forgetting the utter panic when I realised I had forgotten the most important bag of materials in the chaos!
We were exhausted already! But the next day arrived and filming commenced…
The morning consisted of standing around awkwardly while people got busy establishing shots of us, most of which were of us walking un-naturally trying to generate ‘natural looking’ conversation and then rushing around collecting all of our materials!
We had arranged to collect a whole box of wine corks from a local Brighton wine bar, Ten Green Bottles and the rest was felt and jewellery bits. We then spent the rest of the afternoon, evening and a fair portion of the night, making all of our items!
The next day of filming was a bit of a tired, hazy blur that started with the panic making of tissue paper pom poms (as someone may have left that bag at home too, but we don’t like to talk about that…)
I would like to highlight how great Victoria is looking in that picture seeing as she was a/ tired and b/really poorly! Like a trooper she didn’t let a silly soar throat or stuffy head effect our day.
The rest of the day was spent luring people to our stall and being filmed selling what we could. We were really pleased with how everything came together and it was awesome to see it all complete and together.
Vikki working away
We worked hard that weekend and we’re really proud of the results. We owe a big thanks to everyone who helped us out and all of our items will be up on our ETSY shop within the week.
The show doesn’t air until the Autumn so we’ll keep you updated! You’ll have to wait until then to see how we did.
Take care,
E and V x
Dot-Crafts 