Crafty Things

I've had a very crafty weekend.

On Saturday I went along to the Stitch and Craft show at Manchester Central .... purely for research of course!
In school I run an after school cardmaking club - it's called 'Snappy Cards' - we've been doing it now for four years - and we sell cards on the usual occasions... Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day and so on. We've become very successful and we can now afford to buy some lovely supplies to make our cards.We have even been featured in our local paper.
Last year, while we were on our annual trip to the Creative Stitches and Hobbycrafts Fair at Aintree Racecourse we were approached to run a demonstration stall at this year's show in April.

The organiser wants to show the next generation of crafters. The children were thrilled, but now we have to set it all up.
So yesterday, I was looking for some inspiration. I saw some nice lettering for our sign.

I liked the idea of some pretty bunting across the front of the stall, and maybe some large paper flowers somewhere.

I wonder if fairy lights will work? They looked lovely on this stall.

My lovely daughter was home for the weekend, and offered to come with me, but as a non-crafter, she soon became bored, and was shocked at how ruthless crafters are at pushing their way through to the stalls. She was very interested in some gorgeous beads, but just couldn't get to the counter, so we took some photographs instead.

I can't possibly get involved with jewellery making, tempted as I am, because I don't have the time or the space to start up another craft.
Defeated by the crowds, I quickly bought some stash for the club, saw a few ideas for our stall and left.
We then went to the nearby Lowry Centre in Salford, where surprise, surprise - there were more craft shops! Bliss - because these were empty and I could browse to my heart's content ... my poor daughter!!!

We were quite disappointed at the Lowry gallery, as, although it was a fantastic building, there was actually very little to see inside. Never mind ... we had a lovely lunch in Cafe Rouge and just chatted. It's so nice to have my lovely girl home again .. even if it was just for the weekend.

I've now got to play with my lovely new papers .... and try out ideas for our stall at the Aintree Show.

It's what I love to do best!