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Monday, February 20, 2012

The Show

Well we're back! and judging by the driving skills I displayed at the petrol station on the way there, it's a miracle that we are :-) (Lets just say that I have proved cars drive better when their handbrakes are off).

The day began with a dream and I don't mean like Martin Luther King.  I dreamt about Tim Holtz, not in a "ooo Tiiim Holtz" way, he just happened to be in it.  It woke me and being rather sleepy I wanted to figure out what time it was, good job I checked as it was 7.05am and my alarm had been turned off by my darling son who had woken me several hundred times during the night (I won't bore you with the details.....yet) So off I rushed to the shower, stubbing my toe on the ironing board on the way. 

Sue arrived just after 8am and off we trundled to collect Fi.  Aside from the petrol station incident, which amused Sue and Fiona periodically throughout the day, the trip up was really easy.  The sun was shinning and it was relatively quiet on the roads.  We spent our time discussing products and ideas and speculating about what crafting celebs might be in attendance.

Here we are just prior to "Petrol Gate" with our bacon and egg mcmuffins (other breakfast providers are available)

To our surprise the car park was within the same postcode as the NEC and after a short walk we were there: Hall 12.  It's so lovely to see all the new products, that we've been hearing so much about, up close.  Colours are more vibrant, textures more texturey.  Of note: New Authentique...mmm, Glitz...really lovely, Jenni Bowlin and Echo Park and of course Tim Holtz branded products.

Tim Hutz (as I accidentally renamed him) was demonstrating his new distress markers at the Personal Impressions stand and I spied Sara Neuman (of Sara Books fame) watching him.  Fiona and Sue had an encounter with Dawn Bibby and we ate our lunch next to Joanna Sheen.

Speaking of celebs here is the man of my dreams at his demo stand.  

By lunch time we were starting to feel the trudging in our feet and backs so we retired to Weatherspoons for a light lunch.  We had a giggle about the violent menu which offered "hand battered fish and chips" and "torn chicken"  as we discussed our action plan for the afternoon.
The afternoon was spent networking and talking shop.  We were very focused until I lost the map.  It wasn't my fault, I was distracted by a small group of people destroying a stand full of inks, a bit like one of those scenes where you see someone take a can of beans from the bottom of the pyramid of tins.  They managed to bring the entire stand to the floor! including the stand itself....hilarious to watch.

Anyway, because of the mislaid map we had to take 5 to remember where we were heading so we stopped by the catwalk and watched some perky young ladies strutting their stuff whilst I emptied the contents of my bags on the floor in an attempt to find the damn map...I didn't.

Shortly after we decided that our bodies were too weak to continue on and our brains were a big pool of papercraft mush so we made our way home.  We stopped at Strencham Services to have coffee and cake to finish our day.

The day was a success.  We had fun.  The show was good and we have come away feeling inspired and fired up.

Now we're really looking forward to working with some of the products that we saw.

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