The Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show
Alexandra Palace, London, UK
What a whirlwind weekend! Saturday morning at 4.30am we were up and getting ready to fly off to the The Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show in London.
Alexandra Palace, or the Ally Pally, was built in 1873 and is named after Alexandra of Denmark who was Queen consort of the UK from 1901 to 1910. The Ally Pally is an iconic building, set in a gently hilly, wooded park overlooking London. Saturday the weather was sunny and warm, and the building and park were glowing with autumn sunshine. What a wonderful setting for this stamp show!
Alexandra Palace, London
The lobby was full and the atmosphere was great. The sun was warming the air and everyone was in high spirits
The show was very busy, and actually got busier as the day went on, with more and more people arriving. We started off by visiting some of our retailers before searching for coffeeeeeeee! But, of course, we had not brought enough £’s with us, and the cash machine in the hall didn’t accept our French card, so off we went for a half hour walk across the park to search for another cash machine! Cash machine found and £’s in hand, we took a quick traditional English breakfast (yummy!!) in a cafe in Wood Green before getting the bus back up to the Ally Pally. Thanks to the bus driver for the free ride because he didn’t have change to take our fare!
We toured the show and watched a lot of the demonstrations which were continually being announced over the tannoy. We caught up with the talented Bev Rochester on The Hobby House booth with Jill Baldwin. Bev was busy doing endless demos and it was great to chat with you Bev! She had made buckets of beautiful Sarah Kay cards which were decorating Gill’s booth. Her colouring with distress inks and twinkle H2O is incredible!
Look at all those amazing cards by Bev!
Jill from The Hobby House with Heidi. Say cheese!
We had a great time, making new friends and bumping into people! I even bought some Copics Flesh Tones to try out colouring myself (hands off Heidi lol!) Here’s some more pictures we took during the day…
Jo Preston with her mum and Heidi. Jo spotted the Stampavie name on Heidi's folders and said hi! It was great meeting you! Check out Jo's blog too by clicking on the pic!
Heidi and Harvey Baker on the Imagination Crafts booth. Harvey is SO nice and it was great to meet up. So sorry to have missed you Sue (who was busy at the Exeter show)! We'll meet up again!
Wendy Kadzidlo, from Stamps and Memories, and Heidi hidden by a sea of customers! Wendy is shown by the blue arrow lol!
We also had a tiny brief chance to say Hi on the Samuel Taylors booth who were so incredibly busy. It was nice to meet you and hopefully next time we’ll have more of an opportunity to chat!
It really was a fun day and we enjoyed meeting everyone at this show. We had to leave shortly after 4.30pm and drove through central London instead of taking the M25 to do a bit of “instant tourism” on the way to the airport. A quick drive past Buckingham Palace, Westminster and the Thames, we were back at Gatwick airport at 6.30 for our 8pm flight. After a rushed bite to eat, we flew off exactly on-time and got home at 11pm, only to realise that we’d left a present for our neighbour hanging on the seat in Gatwick airport. Arghhhh! Sob.
Hugs to everyone we met in the Ally Pally, it was great and looking forward to seeing you all again soon!
Stuart and Heidi
Hi
Great meeting you both – really appreciated the stamps. Shame we didn’t have more time to chat, love the photos of Ally Pally. Sue is sooo excited about the new stamps and looking forward to meeting you at the NEC!
Take care
Harvey
Nooooooo!!!! I so nearly went, but didn’t in the end {obviously!}.
Guess I’ll just have to get myself over the NEC next month!
Hugs x
And it was wonderful to meet you both too. You accomplished so much in the short time you were here (even to go walking across the park for your £££’s lol.)
Hope to see you again at the NEC (hoping to be able to get there for the first time ever!!).
I am off for an early night after a very busy weekend but keep an look out for some new Sarak Kay cards this week ….
hugs
Bev x
Hi Jo!
It was fun to meet you. You have such a great sense of humour, it was a laugh talking with you!
Make sure you show us some of your work, because we’re very curious to see what you do with your new stamps! We’ve already had a look at your blog too… you have some great cards on there!
Keep in touch and say hi anytime! We’ll be at the NEC in November (Saturday 7th) for the Hobby Crafts show. Give us a message if you’re going!
We’ll send you an email with the pictures we took at the show.
Take care,
Stuart and Heidi
PS… and Stuart says thanks for the hug ! lol
Hi There
Well you said we would be on your blog and here we are, just wanted to say how lovely it was to meet you both yesterday…the more I looked, the more of your beautiful stamps I saw ( and needed). We had a great day and when I have made some cards using your stamps I bought, I will let you know…
Glad you got home safely…
Hugs to you both (especially Stuart !!!)
Jo X
Ah you lucky woman, and meeting the lovely Bev too!
Pinky