Cropping WOYWW!!

Late on the Thursday before The Crop I decided to make some ATCs as mementos of the day.
I cut some card sized gold, silver, red and green papers/card.  I sorted out the Christmas tags and cut them down to size.  It was just a matter of attaching papers and tags to the cards, attaching backing papers and writing them up.

I completed thirty card fronts by lunchtime Friday but then had to stop as Little Soldier came for a few hours.  After tea that night I returned to 'Bertie' (we finally decided on a name for the room - Bertie, as in Allsorts!) and completed all the cards but decided to just write on the backs as time was running out - there was still packing to be done.

We loaded the card and left home about 07.00hrs, taking the back roads out of town.  We do not favour the motorways and were very pleased to see so little traffic on the roads.  
We had hoped to stop at a 'greasy Joe's' but forgot it was Saturday, there were none about!!!  
I loved all the Autumn/Winter scenery, beautiful at every turn.

One part of our journey was through a village of 
thatched roof cottages, the chocolate box kind.
We arrived at our destination about 09.45hrs but could not distinguish which building we were supposed to be in, thinking it was a community hall.  
No matter which way we drove we still came back to 'The Ram' public house - no we are not going to have a drink!!  

Just before our meeting with Darnell some weeks back, Shaz Silverwolf gave me her phone number and now we chose to use it.  I cannot state how grateful we were for this, it would have taken much longer to get to the Crop without this helpline - 

Thanks again Shaz.

Inside the hall, crafting had already started .... much laughter and chatter emanated from the room ..... there they were!!!

My photos were taken early on, I call them action photos .... definitely not posed!   If any of them offend by not showing folks in the best light ..... I'm sorry ..... I just took a few photos on my phone.




That's PJ in the hat FYI - painting butterflies through stencils.  I think he is the only one who stayed in his seat - except for lunch!!






There was Erica and Shaz .....









...... Then HelenH - concentrating - and Glitter and Glue......

..... LunchLadyJan and ScrappyStinkyInkyMess ....chatting about ....?





Don't ask me why these are the only photos I have .....  I think I became caught up in crafting .....

I managed to make a couple of ATCs, chattering away to KathyK (PurplePrincessDiaries) and Margaret (GlitterandGlue), small chat times with others and a catchup with PearShaped Chris, (we have another joint interest besides crafting .... Paris .......)  
Thank you all for being there and sharing all your crafting with us, I loved all the different work being done.





During the course of the day I received four mementos ...

A pretty star from Mary Anne (scrappstinkyinky mess) - hope you'll post the pattern.

ATC from Erica - Love that silver stamp BTW

ATC from Margaret (glitterandglue) - beautiful card.

ATC from Cardarian - good to meet up with you again.

Lovely mementos for which I am truly grateful.







I collected some Distress Inks and stamps from the free table,  I could not believe that those inks were there.  I soooo wanted to add some more to the few that I had but pennies have to be watched this side of Christmas ..... Thank you so much Shaz.

I used a couple of dies, thanks again Shaz and a big THANK YOU to Erica for all her help with the Big Shot, and the use of her cutter.

I also collected some very useful papers from the table that I stowed away in my box, and then cut them up into usable sizes for my ATCs.  Thank you so much whoever you are.

Packets of mica powders could not be passed by, I will store them all in one of the stackers pots when I get home.

I left some magazines with stamps and some other stamps sheets.  
PJ brought a couple of boxes of stackers pots and managed to donate the leftovers to Morti and DH - Thank you for helping to give me more space in my hallway!!!

I want to say a big thank you to all the men for their efforts in releasing us womenfolk to craft. They were the icing on the cake, the best cups of coffee and tea, the cleanest plates, the best sharers of laughter .... THANK YOU all.

But surely the biggest thank you goes to Julia and Jan - for everything.