Summer Crafting - Doncaster July 2011

Last weekend Pam and I took a trip up to Doncaster to the Summer Crafting show. We left on Thursday and had a leisurely drive up there. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express that is just off the M18 and it was great. Very good value also.

On the Friday we were booked in for the workshop day with Stephanie and Nancy from Create & Craft. The day was manic and very busy (220 people there including a couple of men!!) but we still managed to complete 8 projects (4 embellishments and 4 cards). I will put these on the blog once I have photographed them. We got a goody bag that was supposed to be worth over £100 and it was. We had the craft equipment in there that we would need for the day. We were all given a 360 page 12 x 12 paper book from K & Co worth probably between £20 - £30 with some beautiful papers in. We used a few for the projects during the day but there was still plenty left over.

On the Saturday we had a lazy morning (after last year there was no way we were going to the show at the start!! It was just too busy). We had a late breakfast and then we went to the Lakeside Outlet for a bit of retail therapy. Well it would have been rude not to as it was on our way! They have a M & S outlet store that has some lovely stuff in it at huge reduced prices. We don't have anything like that down our way here. It was here that I bagged (excuse the pun!) my bargain. I was looking for another navy blue handbag as the one I have was broken. Well we went into Domo and had a look around as they were having a sale. Well the whole outlet had a sale on. Having a look around I found this stunner. Real leather. Original Price was £80 (OMG!!!!!) reduced to £56. I didn't pay that though......I got it for £25 :-).

We then went into a couple of clothes stores and came out. Had some lovely stuff in them but not what we were looking for at the time. They have a Next Outlet which we walked into and then out again as it resembled a bit of a jumble Sale.

We had a cuppa and then made our way to the show. It was about 1ish now. We saw lots of people leaving so we hoped it would have been less busy. It wasn't at the at that time but by about 3ish it had calmed down and we were able to get round to all the stalls. We saw a few people that we knew from the Crafters reunited forum. We went and found Toni who was demonstrating on the Imag-e-nation stand and rescued her for an hour to have a wonder around and then a drink.

Now my purchases! Well I have to say that I am ashamed of myself. Seeing as this is the first craft show Pam and I have been too since Doncaster next year, the picture below is all that I bought! Very poor show and when I added up how much I had spent I was gob smacked. I have never spent so little at a show.

Although we did go back to the show on Sunday Morning for about 1/2 hour and I did purchase a scor pal mat and another set of stamps that are not on the picture, it's still a poor show for me.

Still have to have a troll through the internet now :-)

We did have some nice meals out over the weekend as well. Especially at the pub that was just across the car park from the hotel. It's called the Woodfield Farm. The food was excellent and the desserts are to die for. Excellent value also. The other 2 nights we ate at the Beefeater at Lakeside. Both excellent meals.

A very enjoyable weekend had.

Thanks for reading