Ally Pally

Hi everyone, wow what a crazy week last week was.. all sorts of things to prep and then on Friday morning, way too early for me, I set off down to London. I was travelling down by car and aimed to arrive at Ally Pally by lunchtime to help the rest of the team set up the stand. The roads were so busy it made for slow progress. I finally arrived and we all worked for anothe couple of hours getting the stand ready. 

The stand all came together brilliantly. As you know we were collaberating with Crafting Time this weekend, and the fusion of both shops worked really well. 

Here are some of my newer samples up on the display board, with some from Alison Bomber. 

And all my stamps on the racks ready for sale.. Always exciting to see them.. 

So , Saturday morning we just had saome last minute bits to sort. We also introduced make and takes to this show, and here is Emma setting up the M/T table ready for her first class. 

Out came the selfie stick, me and Emma. 

Me and Courtney.. With Emma's Mum in the background. 

And here is the whole gang ready to start. 

We had an extra helper elf this time in the form of Nina's daughter , Emma. 

The show opened and straight away we had people wanting to book into our make and take sessions. Courtney did a great job of sorting out times and filling up all the spaces. 

Then we were off and running. during the morning Emma taught a Make and take class and I demoed alongside Alison Hall. you can see her blog post about it HERE After Alison came Gabby and Liz Borer. This gave me chance to have some lunch and a quick run around the rest of the show. 

After lunch Emma was demoing alongside Jo Myhill. I don't have any photos of our Saturday crew, but if you pop to Helen's blog HERE you will find a great round up of day 1.

On Sat afternoon I was teaching a make and take that had been designed by Lin Brown. I had 20 lovely people come along for a play session and they made some really pretty pieces. 

The lady on the left (below) had so much fun on Saturday she came back and did another class on Sunday. 

It was so lovely to meet Sarah and Becky when they popped by to watch demos, they they came for a play session at the make n take table. 

As is tradition we headed to the bar after the show closed, a quick drink and a catch up with some of our demonstrators and customers. We are all looking a bit tired and the worse for wear here. 

One day down one to go.. Off we went, poor Emma and Courtney had more work ahead of them, making and packing more stock ready for Sunday. I went back with Nina to stay at her house with her lovely family. A huge thanks to her and Rob for allowing me to stay, they are all such wonderful people, and her 2 daughters are seriously so beautiful and funny. Staying with them made the whole weekend so pleasurable.. Don't think I have laughed so much in ages. 

Sunday rolled around all too quick, and we were back on the stand ready for Day 2. Again I demoed on the morning while Emma taught a make n take class. Next to me I had the very lovely Deb Wainwright..I managed to snap a pic of her but not of her projects. If you pop to her blog..HERE.. you can see what she made on the day. 

After Deb, we then had Alison Bomber, again I was so busy I didn't get photos.. 

Then it was time for my lunch and my spot was taken by Julie Ann Lee, she came along to demo her quirky bird ladies. She had lots of fabulous samples. Go and see her blog post all about the day HERE

During my lunch break I made a made a dash around the show again and had a little spend at Clarity Stamps. Barbara was surrounded by customers all watching very intently as she showed them how to use the Gelli plate with PaperArtsy fresco paints, and also how to stencil with .Grunge Paste. I didn't have a lot of time but grabbed a few stencils,stamps and these blending tools which came with a free blending mat. I am intrigued by this and can't wait to try it out. 

I also grabbed a couple more stencils and tape from another stand, sorry can't remember who and then popped to the £1 stand for a few bargains there too. 

Then it was back to our stand to set up for my aftenoon make and take classes, this time I was teaching a little folded booklet, filled with my stamped images. It was a fast and furious class, only 30mins long and so much to pack in. 

But all my ladies worked really hard and got lots done. They all went home with stamped images to fill up their booklets. It was a frantic dash through the techniques but I hope they enjoyed it. 

At 4pm the last make and take finished and the show closed, then it was breakdown time. It is always amazing how quick the hall begins to look empty. 

An action shot of Emma whizzing by with a table. 

And here are Nina and Courtney with the last few boxes. 

All packed in the van and we set off, our first stop was to PaperArtsy HQ to unload part of the van.. And then we took the rest back to Nina's shop.. If you get the chance do pop over to Nina's shop, Crafting Time It is a great shop, a really decent size and soooo well stocked.. And not just the usual run of the mill stuff. Nina has a really diverse range, you are sure to find something that you need. Above the shop is a workshop area that caters for 16 people and there are lots of workshops taking place. Check out their website or facebook page for details of upcoming classes. 

I took the opportunity to have a little rummage in Nina's shop and came away with Pirate Leather! I kid you not, it really is called Pirate Leather.. 

A third night at casa del Nina, and it is now Monday and I am typing this sat on a train home. Trying not to yawn too much, I am sure the other passengers don't need to keep seeing my tonsils lol

Huge,huge thanks.. Firstly to Nina for stepping in to help us with our stand this year, to her daughter Emma for being a great helper elf, and to Rob and Liliana for their great company too. 

More thanks to our guest demonstators, Liz Borer, Alison Hall, Gabrielle Price, Jo Myhill, Deb Wainwright, Alison Bomber and Julie Ann Lee. You girls made the weekend so great on the stand, all the changeovers went smoothly and you made really interesting samples. It was obvious that the customers loved the variety of people and projects. It was an absolute pleasure to have each of you there. 

Here are a few photos of samples that I made during the 2 morning sessions. 

First this wooden door hanger, this was a really great substrate to work on, Nina has them for sale in her shop. 

Then I made a layered tag with a grunge paste border. 

I also made this tag..

And finally I decorated this box for Nina, it is a papier mache box and it took the Fresco paint beautifully. 

Darcy. X