After a friend got excited and messaged me at the weekend to say she had just seen me on the tv  – I though it would be good to share my memories from a couple of years ago when I appeared on Kirstie Allsopp’s handmade christmas show.

I was very lucky to be chosen as a contestant in the handmade christmas tree competition and along with three other very creative and talented contestants we had to decorate trees with our own handmade decorations.

Although I had been interviewed on tv in the past, actually appearing in Kirstie Allsopp’s show was an incredibly exciting experience and I found myself getting very nervous as I arrived at Blenheim Palace. The team from Raising the roof productions were very welcoming and put us all at ease, giving us plenty of time to decorate the real trees that they had already prepared for us. Being a great fan of Kirstie on ‘Location, Location, Location’ I was just so excited to meet her and found that she is just as natural and lovely in real life as she is on the screen. I even caught her photographing my very organised tool case to show to her friends at the craft club.

I had based my tree on the tropical trend and  surprisingly it still seems to be on trend two years later.  To decorate my tree I handcrafted hummingbirds (from polystyrene, foam and paper mache), created flowers from crepe paper (after researching techniques on Youtube) and painted water colour butterflies .  Everything was painted, glued and glittered and displayed with twinkling purple and pink fairy lights.

One of the other contestants was the talented Interior Stylist Lucy Gough who created a very sophisticated tree, based on memories of her family living in Australia.  She pegged on nostalgic black and white images of her family and hung white writers quills gilded with gold glitter. With white lights and lit candles at the base –  this tree was a winner for it’s elegance and beautiful simplicity.

Another very creative contestant was Sarah – who is famous for creating  her delicious range of Puckett’s Pickles.  Who would believe you could decorate a tree with cabbages, cauliflowers and garlands made by stringing cherry tomatoes and brussel sprouts?  A winner for the most creative mind, using the inspiration of pickles and the hues of purple, green and red to create a crazily wonderful tree.

And finally onto the winner of the trophy  Rivka –  an extremely talented hand crafting enthusiast.  Everything on her tree was beautifully made.  She made her own felt to hand craft bunting and felted seagulls She filled tiny beach huts with mini lights, made tissue paper waves and added hand knitted decorations to create a beautiful vintage seaside theme.

Grabbing Kirstie for a snap before she left the show !