Not forgetting the wildlife at Christmas

Saw these wreaths for the birds on a stall in a Dutch village just before Christmas. What a fabulous idea! Would love to copy this for next year, but not sure I fancy having woodpigeons and squirrels clinging to my front door in an attempt to gather lunch. Perhaps the shed door would be better ...

Christmas at Osterley Park House

Fabulous setting for a Christmas Craft Fayre - the National Trust's Osterley Park House. A grand building for grand people, decked out for Christmas with carol singing in the gardens. The downside was that the craft stalls were in the servants' quarters - so plenty of cold floors and few windows. Oh, and no food and drink - not even water - to protect the precious fabric of this historic establishment.

As usual, a last-minute panic from me that I wouldn't have enough to show, so some frantic late-night painting. All was well, though, especially once my colleague arrived on the Sunday to share the table.

So what was popular this week? People just love the Lazy Susans with the chickadees. Hardly anyone can pass by without giving it a whirl. We think we might one day put a show together dedicated to Lazy Susans. 

The very small fabric and paint angels for tree decorations or card-making were very popular too. I'm sold out of those and will definitely make some more for last year.

A beautiful location, a very friendly bunch of people, and some lovely visitors. Next year I might sign up for all three weekends before Christmas. 

And now ... a Christmas craft fair

If you're anywhere near the National Trust's Osterley Park House in North London in the weekends leading up to Christmas, do drop in to visit the craft fair and enjoy some seasonal carols.

This will be my second "real" craft fair, and I'm nervously excited. I'll be there this weekend (3/4 December) and my colleague Maggie will be around the following week. I've packed up a great range of Christmas decorations and presents. Visit me to buy hand-painted and decoupaged wine glasses, wooden spoons and stirrers, baubles, card toppers, Lazy Susans, votive candle holders, shopping bags, earring boxes, clocks and much more.

Folk art painting takes time, so we won't have a huge stock under the table. It's going to be a "when it's gone, it's gone" sale. Do come and say hello if you get the chance.

Egham Royal Show August 2011

My first real craft fair! Two days in a marquee sharing a stall with my teacher Maggie Curtis while the heavens opened outside.

In the pic are a selection of our hand-painted items. Bottom left is one of two Lazy Susans. The one featured here is painted with small birds and the other was covered with sunflowers. So many people touched and felt and whizzed that board around over the two days! Delighted to say they both found new homes by the end of the weekend.

Also in the pic a couple of papier mache tissue box holders which went to someone who knew exactly what they wanted. That was unusual - a lot of visitors stood and chatted and dithered. And we all know now that "I'll be back later" is code for "You'll not see me again"!

Also here you can see a black folder for Christmas recipes, a mirror and some notebooks with those birds again, sheep money boxes, painted glasses, a child's pencil holder, some decoupaged candles, candle holders and some Christmas tree decorations (and yes, I did sell some of those in August!).

You can see some of Maggie's art here too. The bird houses covered in garden flowers attracted a lot of attention. You can see here spring collection bowl on the top shelf as well, and a box painted in a technique that I'll have to get back to you on.

So how did we do? Not badly at all. It's a lot of work and certainly doesn't pay as well as my day job (as a freelance copywriter). But it is fun! The painting, the workshops, the taking part in the shows - all a great way of relaxing and meeting people.

I now need to get stuck into some serious Christmas painting. We have a stall booked for the 3rd December in Staines, Middlesex!

Mary had a little lamb

I have a backlog of folk art painting to post on the blog. I think I've been waiting for the secret of good photography to suddenly come to me. It hasn't happened, so we'll just work with what we've got again!

This is a gorgeous project by Mary Jane Todd called Mary had a Little Lamb. I love the background colour (a mix of Decoart Americana Teal Green and Cool Neutral), and the design of the trees especially. It's all quite simple but really effective.

The trees are based in Avocado but Hauser Medium Green would do the trick. Then the shading behind the circles is in a darker green, and the highlighting in Sand.

I nearly gave this to a friend for her 60th birthday. Then my OH actually said he liked it - and he doesn't get decorative painting on the whole as it is a bit girly - so I'm keeping it.

Santa candleholders

My holiday project. Candlesticks handmade locally (no two the same!). Maggie my teacher did the base coat. I followed fairly closely instructions by Vikki Nicholson (who doesn't appear to have a web site so I can't direct you to her fabulous work). Good enough that I gave them to a friend as a thank you for all the lifts. Must try harder at beards though.