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!

Scary times

Have just signed up for my very first craft fair at the Elmbridge Music Festival at Esher Rugby Ground in Molesey, Surrey. Full of enthusiasm when I handed over the cash, now I am suffering a crisis of confidence. I have until 12 June to put together enough quality work to make a good show. Needless to say, with shaking hands it's tough to paint neatly. This week everything I've touched has been a disaster. Must take deep breaths and stop panicking ....

My Toolbox

Every aspiring folk artist rapidly collects a set of useful tools, such as pencils, liner pens, scissors, rubbers, cotton buds, cocktail sticks, sponges, masking tape and much more.

I've gathered my bits and pieces into a box that was orginally given away free with those part work magazines. This one once held art materials - one pen or paint collected every week if you continued to buy the magazine (which I didn't - I just wanted the box!)

On the basis that no self-respecting folk artist leaves a surface unpainted, I've painted "Lizzy finds a treasure" by Lydia Steeves on the lid of the box. I'm not a fan of twee, but I do like whimsy, and Lydia's collection of animal patterns definitely falls into this category.

The box is painted with Americana Decoart acrylic paints, using a wet on wet technique to create a "blotchy" background, and then following instructions, including remembering to shade and highlight to bring life to the painting.

Christmas recipe folder

I collect recipes from the web and magazines, as well as having a shelf full of cookbooks. Christmas cooking is special, and I have so many different recipes for stuffings, cakes, pies and great ways to make sprouts edible, that I decided I needed a separate folder.

This is a standard file, painted black, with a simple holly and Christmas rose design, passed to me by my teacher, Maggie Curtis.

The lettering is again the cane candy design published in PaintWorks December 2009 magazine by Margot A Clark.