Shooting Videos with Creativebug!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that 2 weeks ago, I filmed some crochet videos with Creativebug in their studio, which conveniently, is also in San Francisco! Creativebug is a how-to/crafty website that is subscription-based. It’s only $4.95/month for access to all the classes on the site. That is pretty nuts, if you ask me! All the videos are high quality, beautifully edited, shot from various angles, and taught by awesome instructors. Hopefully my presence does not lower the bar on that instructor part :P.

Screen Shot 2015-11-07 at 7.12.20 PM

They pulled items from my craft room to dress the studio. Some of what you see there in the background will be projects in my book :). I don’t think that the projects I wrote and filmed for them are top secret, but they haven’t posted anything to their Instagram yet, so I won’t until they do! My classes will be available in 2016, and I will definitely let you guys know when they start rolling out!

Screen Shot 2015-11-07 at 7.12.39 PM

I was super nervous about it all before going in. Usually when I film tutorials for YouTube, I’m just by myself. If I say something stupid, I can edit it out (or keep it in). If I have to say something 100 times to make it sound right, nobody cares. If I start a project at noon and can’t finish filming until midnight, no big deal. I can angle and adjust my camera or laptop around a window or light until I feel like I don’t look gross. I am in control of all these things, but when someone else’s camera (or 3 cameras, rather) are on you, and there’s a schedule, it’s kind of a lot of pressure and also hoping you don’t look like a bridge troll!

Screen Shot 2015-11-07 at 7.12.54 PMI did have a few moments where my brain stopped communicating with my mouth, and all sorts of random weird things would come out, but the crew was really awesome and patient, and the whole experience was really fun. It was definitely hard work, especially for a night owl and a hermit, but the people at Creativebug made a huge difference. They have an amazing team!

One of my infamous stories is that many many years ago, I was asked to appear on HGTV for the show Uncommon Threads. I have always HATED seeing myself on camera, have always felt extremely not-cute because I only have one cute angle, and I said HECK NO!! Everybody was mad at me, but I was steadfast. No. Appearing. On. TV. EVER. At least HGTV asked if I could send some samples for a short segment, so my work got to be on HGTV, just not my face. Doing my stupid vlogs – and now my Youtube tutorials – allowed me feel more comfortable with being in front of a camera and sort of comfortable in front of somebody else’s.  I’ve never felt like I was a natural for videos or even teaching in general, but I tried really hard to get better at it (smile more!) and feel better about it, and now when I’m asked to appear on camera, I’ll usually say yes, but still cringe when I watch them. I’m not saying I’m going to actually watch my own Creativebug videos, so I’ll leave that to you guys :P. Baby steps!

 

***

A few behind-the-scene moments:

  1. I GOT VERY HOT AND SWEATY. Which means, my hands got sweaty. Which means, someone got powder for ol’ sweaty-palms over here. I’m a lady, through and through. When one of the camera guys said, “Hey do you want some powder?” I was like, “Is that a hint, like when someone offers you gum?”
  2. Creativebug shares an office space with Crunchyroll. They have giant wicker-y pieces of furniture which were apparently NAP PODS, and I forgot to ask someone to take a picture of me in one.
  3. I hardly ever work with a stitch marker, and I just count in my head, but I wanted to use one in the videos to help beginners, and there were a handful of times that I had to be like, “STOP. I FORGOT TO USE A STITCH MARKER THAT WHOLE TIME.” My bad.
  4. Sometimes one of the camera guys who would have an itch, like on his belly, and while talking about crocheting, I could see him scratch his belly REALLY SLOWLY so that it wouldn’t make any noise, and it was so hard not to look at that or laugh about it because it was right in front of my face.
  5. Loud noises we’d have to stop rolling for: office dog-barking (you know I just let the dog barks slide when I shoot at home), office laughter (NO LAUGHTER ON MY SET), construction sounds (welcome to downtown SF).
  6. The bathroom was on the opposite end of the studio where I was shooting, and the floor is REALLY LONG. As a visitor, I was supposed to have a badge, and I needed this badge to go to the bathroom, because I passed the front desk. I would be like, “Oops, I forgot again,” and the desk guy would always be like NEXT TIME. Also, I never had any pockets, so when I’d go to the bathroom in the middle of shooting, we put my mic cord and everything in a ziploc bag. So I had my bathroom badge and my bathroom baggie.

3 Comments on “Shooting Videos with Creativebug!”

  • Shannon

    says:

    Hi!

    I’m a big fan, and I’m so excited that you are going to be at the Urban Craft Uprising next month in Seattle.

    I’m kind of obsessed–okay, SUPER obsessed–with the pink sprinkle donut pillow in your picture with this blog post. Is there any chance that you’ll have any donut items at Urban Craft Uprising?

    I’ll be there for sure regardless! YAY! : )

    • TwinkieChan

      says:

      Hi Shannon! Unfortunately, I can’t bring a giant donut like the one in the photo, but I will be bringing mini ones! I can’t decide yet if they should be fridge magnets or brooches…. if you happen to have a preference, let me know! 😛 Looking forward to meeting you!!!!!

  • Shannon

    says:

    Thanks for responding to my comment! I’m SO excited you are going to have mini donuts at Urban Craft Uprising. Fridge magnets would be awesome! But so would brooches. You really can’t go wrong either way with mini donuts! : )

    I’m really excited for Urban Craft Uprising!!! YAY!

Leave a Comment to Shannon Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

To top