VersionScrap... ooh La La indeed!

VersionScrap was a whirlwind of a weekend - one where it feels that your feet haven't touched the ground but you know they have because they ache from standing, walking, stair climbing.. a bit more standing - and you've enjoyed ever single minute.. that was my my weekend...

(I take my hat off to the rest of the PaperArtsy team because they worked for 3 more days than me!)

It really is a lovely craft show - though 'craft show' doesn't do it justice - its almost like a big retreat - 2 days of great classes on offer, beautiful stands, lots of make'n'takes, great products and a nice atmosphere all help to create an inspiring craft day out or weekend as many people visit for the weekend (or all three days!) - so many things to do.

I spent Friday teaching 3 classes to groups of lovely ladies (57 people! phew!) and we worked through the language 'barrier' with the help of Sally's translation skills, and its surprising how much (or little lol) of my school french came back to me... and how miming skills come in really useful... 

... the classrooms are bright & airy and have a nice view out of the window onto the park...

I didn't get a chance to take many photos of my classes - all very busy - and I only took a few around the shops/stands themselves,.. and then it was mainly of shop names I wanted to remember - I even forgot to take photos of the PaperArtsy stand!  (or the demo samples!)  Very unusual for me & so I've borrowed a couple of stand and class photos from PaperArtsy's Leandra's twitter feed.

I walked the whole show twice on Saturday (in case I missed anything the first time, and because it was 'a bit' busy)  and did a bit of shopping (well it would've been silly not to!) - here's my stash pile - I haven't had a craft-spend like this in ages!

several dies, a few stencils, couple of stamps, cute little laser cut embellishments (love the smell), and magazines as research and because the French magazines are lovely.  My suitcase on the journey home was only two-thirds full but weighed a blummin tonne! lol

One of the stands had 3d pens- v clever.. tempted to look into these back in the UK - could make all kinds of quirky embellishments & 3d drawings....

At the back of the hall is a gallery of great big canvasses - scrapbook layouts but huge - about 60-100cm - this wood plank based one was one of my favourites...

as well as this yellow and black one (yes, me, liking yellow - how things have changed - I told you I was embracing yellow!)

Big paper flowers seem to be on trend at the moment- I've see it used on catwalks at recent fashion shows, and in window and product displays and so I really please to see this clever use of a frame and flowers:

so much to see.. I really enjoyed this show, thanks to everyone who came to my classes and who visited the PaperArtsy stand and watched Leandra and Lin demo their socks off all weekend- it was lovely to meet everyone. 

The PA team work so hard keeping everybody happy and the stand well stocked with PA products.

I had time, on the walk back to the courtesy bus (or NoddyBus as its affectionately called, because it looks like a toy train lol), to take photos in the gardens... only the tulips were in bloom at the moment and they looked lovely - so colourful...

I had a few hours to spare before I caught the Eurostar back to the UK and so I dropped my luggage in a locker at the station and caught the Metro down to Les Galleries Lafayette... this is a mecca for shoppers - the shop is just beautiful!  The central gallery with its huge stained glass dome is stunning and smells amazing with the perfume counters in its centre.

... and last but not least here is my one and only pain au chocolat..  Being wheat intolerant I shouldn't really eat these but when in Paris how could I not!! so I had just one and it was half size so it was OK!
Cute.
and very very tasty! lol

Now I'm back at home - so glad I went to VersionScrap and experienced teaching outside the UK and the show itself - I'd recommend going to the show if you get the chance...  I hope to go back next year... we'll see... I'll start brushing up on my French now, just in case :o)

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