Back from the show.

We have been back a few days now, recovering from a long week at the show. I must admit I have spent the weekend mainly catching up on lost sleep from restless evenings.

Unfortunately we had the weather to contend with as well, and for many exhibitors, Sunday the first day of the show which is meant to be the busiest of the week, was rather quiet. The British media didn't help matters either by telling people to stay away, even though all roads and railways were clear in Birmingham. The airport was struggling however so we did miss some of our overseas buyers altogether. We even had comments during the show that visitors found the layout confusing and therefore hard to find our aisle.

We arrived on Saturday just after 10am...

This is the blank canvas that greeted us, so with coffee in hand after an early start we began applying some flock wallpaper to the shell scheme that I had selected and planned at home.

It wasn't long before the display started to take shape...

I was amazed at how many more designs I now have, and it didn't take long to fill up the 3 x 1 metre stand.

 

I used ribbon and some tiny pegs to hang my new foiled cards from the top of the stand, and the table-top spinner had a selection of cards from different ranges.

 

We decided during the build-up that we are going to paint and put up shelves next year as we need to start making the task a lot simpler. We also think a little bit of colour in the background will look really nice, so now I just have to select which paint to use.

I had some repeat custom and met some new buyers at the show. I am especially excited by some new prospects for distribution in Australia, so I will keep you informed if that all goes ahead.

We were lucky to exhibit by some friends in the greetings industry, the lovely Anna from Rosanna Rossi, Helen from A Farmer's Daughter, Stuart from Splimple and Cath Ward. It really helps to have such friendly neighbours at the show to share stories and laughter with. They were even kind enough to point buyers in our direction if the customer was looking for something specific. Thank you to everyone for being so lovely.

Thanks for visiting us, we will see you there again next year. Hopefully a bigger stand too, and a seat for Mum!