Sunday, November 11, 2007

a mixed up kind of day

Today I got up way to early for a Sunday morning (6.30am) so I could leave my house at 7.30 for the 2 hour drive to the Birmingham NEC for the crafts for Christmas and Hobbycrafts shows, and all I can say about it is this - DISAPPOINTING!
It definitely wasn't worth getting up early, a 2 hour each way drive and an £8 admission ticket :o( If you don't want to hear my angry rant about this then please don't read any further!

Firstly there was way too many people, so getting to see what was on offer was difficult at times - it's like when you go to the January sales, loads of crazy women grabbing and grappling for a bargain and frankly I just don't have the energy for it.

Secondly, there was just so much rubbish there - the kind of stuff that makes my teeth itch when people call it craft (now I don't want to risk offending anyone here, but pre-made card toppers and hideous hideous gold peel off sticker words just don't cut it as far as I'm concerned). I think you can only really call something craft when you have actually spent time and love creating it.

Thirdly, I know cross stitch pillows of highland terriers are really exciting for some people but they're just not me and there was a lot of this kind of thing.

It wasn't a total loss, I did manage to purchase a few nice papers 60 silver envelopes (for my Christmas cards) some pretty (and nice quality) ribbons from Craft Fairy and some buttons from the Button Company.

The moral of this story is, never go to a craft show at the NEC again. The end.

4 comments:

Joanne said...

Just wanted to say that I completely agree about craft fairs - especially about cross stitch. I go to the Knitting and Stitching show every year with a friend and we have a tradition of hunting for the worst thing: it's always a cross-stitch kit. We haven't yet found anything to beat the skiing vikings...

(Oh, and I love your monsters!)

Unknown said...

Oh dear ... All I can say is I'm glad I didn't make the effort to go.

Although, I love the buttons.

Woo Gilchrist said...

Hi there,

I completely agree with your rant - I just wish that we could have some funky craft fairs in this country, I keep jabbering on about it, maybe I need to think about trying to organise one somehow!!! It's the cards that get me too, and all that flippin' stamping and stuff. OK, so some people love it but your stuff is so nice and unusual and a few of us also make stuff that is a bit different, so I completely get your point. Rant away!!!!

Yvonne Randall said...

Hi and thank you for the compliments about my ribbons. I am so glad that you liked them.
I had a stand at the NEC last week and it wasn't as busy as it was in November. It's a pity that you had a bad experience. Not all craft fairs are so awful

Yvonne