Artstamps Scotland

Blimey I have been really busy with projects, my craft room looked like a bomb had hit it today so I tidied up and it looks much better.

Yesterday, feeling "starved" of an opportunity to shop for "real" i.e not from t'interweb, I decided to go to the Artstamps Scotland Show in Edinburgh. Quite frankly it was AWFUL (stand by for a Sam rant)

I paid £3.50 to get in and the quality of the exhibitors wasn't up to much. It was a great venue and not busy but most of the stands weren't well known or high quality. I felt this way the last time at the SECC show in Glasgow. I don't know why, we have some great stash shops in the UK but they very rarely venture North of the Border.As an avid crafter I get very angry when I see the "Low" end crafting retailers making up the bulk of the exhibitors. These people are very much the "pile it high, sell it cheap" type. They have no real interest in crafting, they don't have anyone demoing the products, they just want to make a fast buck and they put other shops out of business - and OK I am a craft snob, but there must be a better way to run these shows.

The shows are not cheap to attend so I really feel for our stash sellers, it costs a huge amount of money to have a stand, then there are travel and accomodation bills and (unbelievably) they do have to factor in a certain percentage for "shoplifters". Yes you might not like the fact that some of the retailers breathe down your neck at a show, but there are plenty of light fingered people out there. Times aren't easy for our craft shops at the best of times and the credit crunch is hitting us all, so we shall see how it all pans out.

All I can say is, I really hope that the shops that do the shows have a think about allocating a small part of their budget to attend a show North of The Border, we need you. Most of the feedback on UKS this weekend about the show was that it was very much below par, and I am certainly going to be in touch with the organisers!