Sunday 3 March 2013

Fab day out at Lili of the Valley's Birthday open Day

Hi everyone - hope you're all having a good weekend. No card from me today, as I was a bit busy yesterday ... I went with my dear crafty friend Lil to the 9th birthday Open Day at Lili of the Valley in Farsley near Leeds. A bit of a trek for us as it is about a 140 mile round trip, but we both had a wonderful day and were really glad that we went.


Neither of us had ever been to the shop before, and we certainly weren't disappointed - the shop is lovely with cards on display for each stamp, plus a good selection of dies by Memory Box and Cheery Lynn amongst others, paper, card, Wild Orchid Craft flowers (in nice little bunches so you can buy a variety without breaking the bank!), Promarkers and Copics ... OMG we were like kids in a sweet shop!!

The shop has a cafe upstairs which was serving yummy sandwiches and cakes, and the 2 ladies serving us were really friendly and nice. We also met Laila and Lisa the owners of LotV, and they were so welcoming and chatted to us for quite a while. I also got the opportunity to meet and say hello to Anne and Lucy who work for LotV, and Annabel Spencely who is one of the stamp design artists. An artwork board upstairs also showed sketches for the next upcoming release of stamps which was very interesting and exciting, and Annabel had some sketches of future releases she is working on now. 


(l-r: Laila, Lisa, me, Annabel (LotV designer), my friend Lil, Anne)

The team had a few other events and promotions going on - all visitors received a goody bag which included a free stamp and some die cut toppers, a free raffle with 2 gorgeous hampers of LotV goods, Lucy was tapping away into her laptop as she hosted the Facebook party, and the cafe was done out really nicely with balloons. A bit later Laila and Lisa were presented with baskets of flowers, and all the team and customers in the shop sang "happy birthday" :-)


Last but not least I was able to catch up briefly with Dawny P, although she was pretty busy pinging in and out of workshops she was hosting.  Lil and I also got talking to a few other crafters in the shop, swapping ideas and tips, and I'm hoping a couple of ladies may call by to visit my blog.

Well done to all at LotV for hosting such a great day - it was obvious a lot of effort had gone into setting it up, and it looked to us like a great success. We arrived home tired but happy and can't wait to get playing with our purchases! Here's to the big one-oh! in twelve months' time!! :-)

Hugs,

6 comments:

Jane said...

I would have loved to have gone Pauline but it's 4 hours each way minimum for me ;0) I joined the virtual party on Facebook. Thanks for sharing your lovely photos and enjoy your purchases x

Whisper said...

Looks like you had a fabby day, i'm hoping to visit the shop in August, when i'm up there, as for me, it's a 10 hour round trip, but we are combining it, with a visit to family. Luv Sam x

Squirrel x said...

Aargh, flipping blogger error 503 aarrrgh!! Just left you a comment that vanished! Glad you had such a super time hun. Hugs, Sxx

Lili B said...

Yes - we had a brilliant day out. Well done Pauline for getting us there and back.

Lili B said...

Yes - what a brilliant day. Well done Pauline for getting us there and back xx

ribenaruby said...

Oh wow, thanks for sharing your pics Pauline, what a lovely place! Ruby x