Ally Pally Roadtrip !

Stunning weekend of warm sunny weather ... more like mid-Summer than April !

Theresa, Gill & I set off early & headed up to Alexander Palace arriving about half ten - we hadn't expected it to be such an attractive building & location looking out over the whole city. And free parking - how much better than the NEC!! In fact we found the whole event better than the NEC show - perhaps because it was focussed on stamping & scrapbooking rather than a whole host of crafts that aren't really our thing !

Happily we all prefer to split up to look around & shop - so much easier to squeeze through the crowds & get into to see the things that you want to see !

There were loads of goodies to buy & great demo's going on - we shopped 'til 12.30, took our sandwiches out onto the lawns then headed back in for some more shopping before heading off home about 3 o'clock - just as our feet were telling us they had had enough walking around. Traffic free journeys in the the sunshine & good conversation made the 3 hours each way seem much quicker than when I drive it on my own !

I found most of the things that I had on my shopping list .. a couple of new Martha Stewart punches, some stamps, a Resist ink pad that I have been reading about & wanted to experiment with, 3 new background embossing folders, a die cutting set for cutting square photos for scrapping & the Tim Holtz Vintage Market alphabet die I have had my eye on.

Lin from LB Crafts was demo-ing the new Fresco paints & Distress Stains & I had a happy half hour watching this - they look lovely worked together & the chalky colours seem very shabby chic ! I also met Hels Sheridan who was demo-ing too on the Artistic Stamper stand - it was funny to finally meet someone who's blog I read most days !!

I also got lured by the Configurations Printers tray which will be great fun to use to work up small pieces of art - I have all these lovely stamps & I not being a card maker I am never sure quite what to do with them when I have made them !!

Oh & I saw Tim's resist papers pad - images embossed onto brown papers for you to ink up in any colours that you like - it seems a great idea & it should be fun to have a go !

After a long day on Saturday - Sunday dawned bright & sunny & after our weekly swim we headed back into the garden for a grand tidy up, more clearing of the dreaded oak leaves - how I detest them !! And a good sweep of the paving, cleaning the pots, trying to mend the crack in the water feature with sealant then our weekly trip to the tip with the old BBQ we never used since we moved down here ! In the afternoon, I used the new Fresco paint to re-paint a large pot & then gave all the trays on my printer's tray a covering of chalky emulsion - it will be a base to work colour onto each little box - and avoids the blank page syndrome !!

And we rounded off the unseasonally gorgeous day with a 5pm BBQ to catch the last of the sun - sitting out on our deck, a glass of Cava, home reared meat from the Farm shop & baked pineapple with rum for dessert !! End of a lovely "Summer in Spring" weekend !!