Marathon Make

Not the running kind of marathon.
I'm just giving my left hand a rest for a minute or two. It's funny that although I'm right handed, when I spend a long time making cards, it's my left hand which gets sore. I think it has all the work of holding the card taut while I'm painting and it gets over worked.
Awwww.
Anyway, this is set to be a record card making day. Our stocks were so low and the Crafts at Christmas Show (see above) starts next Thursday.
We've spent the last few weeks concentrating on our shop orders for Christmas and also the website and mail orders ( just got a lovely web order from a customer in California for over £200 worth of Christmas cards ). So much so that our own stocks were almost non existent. One of our card spinners which should hold 432 cards had only 18 in it! Not a lot to go round for a four day Craft Fair.
So it was necessary today to put orders on hold and build up the stocks again. I haven't finished yet, still a lot of painting to do, but tea and toast beckons to keep up the blood sugar levels.
Our new printer is coping well and obligingly churned out more than 500 cards this morning. I wonder if I'll be able to finish them all off tonight? The printer does the lettering, then the applique has to be put on and then the detail hand painted on.
There's still so much to do but hey, there's Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. A whole three days!
Wednesday will be packing up, travelling and setting up day. Our van isn't quite big enough to take everything, so we normally post three packing cases to ourselves at the SECC. The carrier picks them up on Tuesday, and I hold my breath on the Wednesday until I see them safely stacked on our stand waiting for us when we arrive. Then the main thing is make sure that we sell the contents over the four days or we won't have room in the van to bring them back!!
I'll be doing this show on my own this year. Bob will take me through and help to build the stand, then head home to continue with the trade orders. I have my favourite hotel in Glasgow booked for four nights and I really enjoy my wee break on my own. I meet so many people during the days of the show - lots of regular customers who come back (hopefully) year after year. Not to mention the other stall holders, some of whom I only see once a year. It's good to catch up. Then at the end of the day I stretch out in my hotel room with a takeaway, a magazine or two, the remote control and am usually asleep before 9. Bliss.
Of course this show runs alongside Hobbycrafts in an adjacent hall, so I'll be there bright and early in the morning before the show opens and have a good sniff around while it's quiet. What a perk, being able to look at all the stands before the doors open and the crowds pile in. I usually manage to spend a fair amount on bits and pieces of craft materials "for the business".
Right, I'm off to make this tea and toast.