REPORT ON THE WEEKEND

Good morning Everyone

Well what a fantastic weekend I have had.

Beware a lot of reading coming up and no pictures!!!

My cards went down really well at the festival - with the first day being much busier than the first. I think the glorious weather on Saturday had a lot to do with it - Sunday wasn't quite so beautiful weather wise .. .. .. .. but did hold a great surprise for me.

I was nicely set up for business and "titivating" my cards when a lady came along and started asking me about my cards. She pointed out a Penny Black hedgehog card and enquired as to whether I used ProMarkers.

I replied that I did and thought I was in for a nice craft conversation when the lady then asked if I used all the shades of grey that are available (the number of greys goes into the teens!!!). I replied that I didn't have all the grey colours - but that my friend did.

The lady then said "I know". By this time I was starting to get a bit confused and I said "You know?" and for the first time I looked at the lady properly .. .. ..as before this we had been looking at my cards and just occasionally glanced at each other. The lady then said "It's me" and when I looked at the lady it suddenly struck me that this was actually the lady who "owned all the grey ProMarkers" who I had been blog following and emailing for weeks.

I then said "Brenda"?

Brenda said "Yes" and then WOW!!!! Excitement just filled the room and we were hugging and laughing and .. .. .. well we were like a couple of school kids!!

(The ProMarker greys are a bit of a joke between Brenda and I. When her set arrived there were so many greys in it that Brenda had said - what on earth would you do with so many greys and I had replied - colour in Penny Black hedgehogs).

Brenda then gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and the day just went on from there.

We had such a fantastic time together. Brenda's hubby came along and it was great to meet him too - although I felt like I half knew him anyway LOL.

Brenda went off wandering around the village visiting the various "places of interest" and would keep calling back at different times. I managed to sneak off duty a couple of times and we shared a bite to eat and a couple of coffee breaks (my lovely Sis covered my stall for me - thanks Jo).

We just talked for England about anything and everything crafty (what else is there in the world) and our lovely hubbies sat talking about all things men. I think they got on as well and Brenda and I did. It was like we had known each other for years!

I didn't want the festival to finish or the day to end. It was so lovely.

Thank you so much Brenda for taking the trouble to travel all that way to see "little me". Thank you for the gorgeous flowers (and for the lovely padded heart that you bought me whilst shopping around the village). You made my weekend really special and I will never forget it!

Thankfully I never read Brenda's blog yesterday morning .. .. I was too busy frantically making more stock as I had ran out of some types of cards .. .. otherwise I might have wondered whether her visit to a blog friend was me .. .. and that would have spoilt a special moment.

Strangely enough yesterday morning my hubby had said "Do you think Brenda will come and visit the festival?" and I had replied "No, it would be too far to travel" - how wrong was I LOL!!!

So now the festival is over for another year and I can try to settle down to a bit of normality. I seriously need a clean up and re-organisation in my craft room, a major attempt at clearing the ironing basket, a relaxed visit to all my bloggy friends who I have missed out on visiting whilst getting ready for the festival and a thorough clean up of all the plaster dust that is settling around my house.

I am at work today and off tomorrow - so tomorrow starts the "clear up campaign".

I am sorry there are no pictures to share but hopefully I have painted a picture of a fantastic fun and happy weekend.

Thanks again Brenda for making it so special. (I can't wait to read your recollection of our lovely meeting).

Love Jules xx