As you may well know by now, I’ve had the really exciting opportunity to be a contestant on this year’s Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas! ! It was an amazing experience being there as ‘Gemma, Lady of Leather’ and as I’ve had lots of questions about it, I thought I’d share how everything played out - It’s not every day you get to be on TV.

It began last year while I was watching the show, and I said to myself ‘I want to be on this!’, so when a friend sent me a link to the application I applied immediately. The category I opted for was the ‘Gift’ one and my original idea was actually a leather gift box containing a selection of leather gifts for men (the most troublesome group to buy for, as many of us know).

Time went by and I kept checking my junk email hoping to see an email response, and finally on a drive to visit friends in Swindon I had a call from Raise the Roof Productions. I was told that the gift category was full however I was being considered for the decoration competition. I was super excited and started describing some small leather Christmas tree decorations that I wanted to make – soon to realize that I was mixing around the categories too much and she actually meant home decorations. I quickly started churning out other ideas, not realizing that it was the leather craft they were interested in, and panicked a little when I heard her feigning interest… argh! She called the producer and came back to me and suggested ‘how about Macramé and Leather combined’ to which I laughed as, to anyone who knows me, knows that those are my favourite crafts. We started talking about making a bunting, which was soon edited to a wall hanging and I was given the weekend to send through a design idea (that part was really fun).

After sending design to them I kept my fingers tightly crossed, but after hearing nothing on the Monday I was beginning to think that 2019 wasn’t my year. Fortunately, on the Tuesday I did get a call from the TV company - from a researcher asking a few general questions about me and my studio, which I felt went well. I was feeling optimistic, and then on the Wednesday during a candle making session for Age Cymru I had a call to confirm I was going to be on the show... Woooooo! All the ladies there were super lovely about my news, and the rest of the class was spent chatting about it. I had to then get onto the small task actually practicing and perfecting my design ready for the show…

Over the next couple of weeks, I had lots of help from my friends. Louise from Lagoon Jewellery at Artyzans made some copper rings for my macramé snowflakes - which I could have bought, but I liked the idea of making my product entirely from recycled materials (in the end I managed this, except for the addition of Christmas lights)

Another friend, Nicola, gave me a fabulous, yet discreet Christmas manicure for filming day. I would have loved to go all out but I needed to keep my TV appearance under wraps so I thought a nice dark purple sparkle would not raise any questions, haha!

Mum came over to the studio the night before my ‘back story’ filming with a load of Christmas decorations, which we used to transform just one corner of the studio with. As no-one was really supposed to know about my TV appearance, all these decorations were pulled down again afterwards - we had to be so secretive! She was so funny when she arrived as she was really tired, having stayed up the previous night watching back-to-back episodes of last year’s show to get inspiration (which I had decided not to do so I wouldn’t get nervous). In addition to this, she also made me two fab hairbands, one for each TV appearance.

On filming day in the studio, I was a little nervous, but the people I’d spoken to on the phone had been so lovely that this was replaced mostly by excitement. The main problem I had was that I was having to repeat answers to questions I had been asked multiple times before, and I didn’t know if my responses were going to come out the same. Also, I literally had no idea what bits they’d pick out of our 3-hour chat! What I found most difficult was multitasking – something I always thought I was skilled at – and during the conversation the producer had to keep reminding me to carry on, which was particularly difficult when some of the questions required full answers. When I was asked ‘so what made you get into leather crafting’ I couldn’t just jump into the answer. I had to say ‘I got into leather crafting after blah blah blah’ – and I stuffed it up so many times. I really learned a lot that day about giving TV interviews. After he left I had to quickly whip down all the decorations as I had a crochet class that evening (but I ended up telling them what I’d been up to as I could hardly contain my excitement!).

All ready for filming at the Lark Studio!

2 weeks later, feeling a lot less prepared than I had hoped, I was off to the beautiful Handmade Christmas house near Exeter. I had made the decision not to make the product before the competition – mostly because I was really busy, but I also thought it would take the excitement out of competition day if I had already made my final piece. It was so nerve-wracking packing my van, knowing that I needed to remember absolutely everything. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if I forgot something so simple and essential as scissors? Eek! The production company gave us rooms in a nearby hotel, which was nice but it was hard to sleep as I kept wondering if I definitely did pack those scissors. As it happened I had remembered everything, that is except for my toothpaste, resulting in an early-morning dash to the shops.

At breakfast, I spotted a couple of people who looked like they were crafters, so I hurried over to introduce myself. There was Mike, a willow weaver from Bridgewater, Eimear (#stitchinvixens) a textile artist from Northern Ireland, and another Cardiff’ian called Heather, who also does textile work but mainly quilts. We were all nervous and shared similar stories, like worrying about having forgotten something, not having practiced what we were making and other random back-story experiences.

While getting to the house, Mike and I lost the car we were supposed to be following, meaning we were driving around the lanes for ages. Eventually we did pull up at the beautiful house, were led around the back, and parked up in a field full of sheep! The house was like a maze, full of incredible antiques, pieces of art, stuffed animals and wonky floors. We sat in the kitchen room, where there was a selection of goodies on the table from the previous day’s hamper competition and we were briefed on our day. The thing that really made us laugh was the top-tip given to us: ‘try not to look too disappointed if you don’t win, as we can’t shoot that twice’, haha!

Kirstie arrived and was wearing a fab Dutch wax print dress. She is taller than I’d imagined and I noticed she has really good rapport with the TV crew. This crew was huge, there were literally people everywhere, and so many cameras! She then introduced the competition and we are finally allowed to start! It felt so uncomfortable at first, I didn’t want to make too much noise (my addiction to hammering things felt wrong, but I soon got over this or I’d never have finished). I also wanted to make sure my table didn’t get too messy, that I didn’t frown too much or make a weird concentrating face when others are being interviewed in the room etc. It did all feel very weird for hours as it’s all just so surreal.

Kirstie came in and chatted with each of us at the beginning. She was lovely and had so much interest in all our products, and in between chats she joked around with the crew. When that segment was done, I thought we’d be able to crack on again but in fact there’s always a camera and 2 people in the room filming your every move, so it was really hard to focus. If I were to give a future competitor a tip I’d suggest making something that takes about half the competition time as you can’t work at full speed. Kirstie returns to help us with a part of our design and I opt for her helping me with riveting, which she aces, and we have a little chat as she helps me out. I think nerves took over as I remember chatting a bit too much through this, not really letting her speak… eek!

After this we had lunch, which was a delicious paella, and I decided to take the time to get the items I had made so far all hung up so I wasn’t in a crazy rush at the end. I am so glad I did that as it felt like a big weight had been lifted as I knew that, even if I didn’t finish the 8 leather and macramé decorations, I’d still have something to present to the judge, who was still a secret!

In the last few hours we continued to chat amongst ourselves, and I’m really glad I had such a nice group to spend the day with. Just as I started doing the boring task of combing to make a fringe on the macramé snowflakes, Mike announced that he’s finished so I joke that he can come and help me. The producer said that he can if I want, so I show him the ropes, giving me a few minutes to tinker with the layout of my decorations on the driftwood. We had a giggle as he helped, then Heather realises she won’t be finished in time so he leaped over to help her. The countdown seemed to speed up but I was kind-of done so I decided to make a macramé bauble I had brought along just in case. I am still so embarrassed that I forgot how it should have looked! (It wasn’t until the drive home when I realise that I made the rope ridiculously short).

Time was up so we all headed out and were promptly offered a cup of tea… amazing! We all felt wrecked, it’s a lot of adrenalin and concentration for one day and in the kitchen we met the wreath competitors who felt the same. Before we get our cup of tea we’re asked to go to another room to await the judge’s decision, we all went a little cuckoo at this point as we needed to stand quietly for what seems like forever, and all I remember was counting a clear box of baubles that was perched up on a wardrobe in the room in order to pass the time, haha! We keep bursting out in laughter at the thought of the top tip we were given earlier about not looking disappointed if we lose, as honestly, at this point, we all didn’t care. We had such a fun day, were all so tired, and we’d all become friends, so it really didn’t matter.

We returned to the kitchen to a cold cup of tea, and within minutes we were asked to return to our crafting room. We were greeted by Katie Jones, who I actually follow on Instagram so it was nice to meet her. We got prepared for the results all standing with our arms around one another and whispering to one another to smile and not look disappointed. The winner was announced and…

you’ll have to read about the rest in in part 2 ;)

My Time as 'Lady of Leather' on Kirstie's Handmade Christmas!

Lark Design Make, 36 Dogfield Street, Cathays, Cardiff, CF24 4QZ