And the Winners are ....

Well, it was pretty easy actually ! Seeing as I only had 7 comments left on the blog, 2 of which were from people too far away to attend so are happy to not be included in the draw and 2 comments from the same person (sorry Ginny - that doesn't mean you get entered twice !!), that leaves 4 comments and as I've got 4 tickets up for grabs - ALL OF YOU WIN !!!!

So, paper-and-string, Picciolo, The Flour Loft and Peggycrafts - well done !! Bribary in the form of cakes wasn't needed in the end paper-and-string and Picciolo - but I shall still be expecting you to bring me cake - preferably chocolate !!

If you could all email me with your addresses, I'll send your tickets out to you and look forward to seeing you all at some point over the course of the show !

So, back to the show. Remember I said I was drowning in a sea of lists? Well, I'm now well and truly swamped ! Lists get scribbled on so that I then have to make other lists, things get chopped and changed around, I decide that I need to take more stock so need to order from different suppliers, I need to keep running totals of everything that has been spent to date (not good, as my my budgeting skills are zero !). And that's on top of all of my to-do lists

Moo Cards - check
Plastic racking - check
Glass Jars - check
Hanging Rails - check
Wire baskets - check
Perspex stands - outstanding
Label tops - check
Paper bags - outstanding
Leaflets - outstanding
Price lists - outstanding
Grip seal bags - check

and on, and on and on.

But, at least I have now ordered all of the stock that I need and it's starting to be delivered. First up was 18,000 felt balls - yes, you read right - 18,000 felt balls !!

This week will hopefully see the arrival of buttons, buttons and more buttons. I have to say that I have developed a button fetish since seeing the catalogue of the supplier that I'm using (paper-and-string I'm sure you can sympathise with me !)

I'm also hoping that lots of lovely ribbons will arrive, as well as more needle felting kits, more buttons, books, more buttons, wool roving, and more buttons !

I also had a major saving in the display department ! The containers I had decided to buy to display the felt balls were going to cost me around £10 each (by the time I'd included VAT and delivery). So, I could only afford 10 containers - not particularly helpful when I've got 40 different colours of felt balls ! So, after spending hour upon hour trying to source either a different supplier or a different container I had a bit of a brainwave.

A small town near to us has one of those old-fashioned sweet shops where everything is sold by weight out of jars. So, the following day I took my little man with me (yep - he's STILL on school holidays) to visit the shop and asked the lady if she could possibly tell me where they got their jars from. Unfortunately she couldn't answer that question as they came from the sweet supplier, already filled with sweets. BUT, she said that they sold the empty jars. "How much"? I asked. "5p" she replied. "5p" !? I replied with a look of absolute amazement on my face. "Yes" she said - "is that too expensive"?? I nearly fell over laughing ! Once I'd digested exactly what she'd said, I could have kissed her !!! 5p each !! That means I can have the 40 that I needed and still have money left over to buy - hmmmmm - maybe some more buttons !! YAY - I was one happy lady. So, the lovely lady at the sweetie shop is very kindly saving up all her empties for me to collect next week. RESULT !

OK - that's enough rambling from me. Hopefully next post I'll have some photos to show you ... of buttons !!

Sarah xx