Angels & Elves, Peg Dolls & Christmas

Have any of you ever taken part in or organized a Market Night on Facebook? I took part in one last week and it was great fun, it was held by the lovely Zoe over at Scented Sweetpeas. She worked hard to get everything organized, there were lots of other great artists and crafters taking part so it was lovely and varied.

I added some of my Peg Doll Angels to the event....

A Trio of Angels

as well as 3 little Peg Doll Elves....

A Trio of Elves

a Christmas Bird House.....

A Christmas House

and one of my Christmas Fairy Doors.

Pretty Pink Christmas Fairy Door

Phew, it was very busy evening and my organizational skills were stretched to the limit, I really should of had a notebook with each item listed so I could keep notes of who ordered what. I did manage to get it all together in the end and managed to match up names, orders and emails.
I made sales, got some new orders and had some new visitors over to my Facebook Page so all in all it was a very successful event and one you should try if you get the chance.

That's all from me for now

 Jan x

I'm linking this post over at Lucy Blossom Crafts Blog

Gingerbread Houses and Doors for Santa's Elves & Winter Fairies

Gosh, it's the first day of December already, the day you can start to open the doors of your Advent Calender.

This week I've been busy with Gingerbread Houses. 

Gingerbread has a long history, I read that Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992ad by an Armenian Monk and from there the love of Gingerbread spread across Europe to Britain and America.

It's believed that Gingerbread Houses became popular after the story of Hansel & Gretel by The Brothers Grimm was published. 

These Christmas Tree Decorations are painted individually so are all slightly different and in different colours. 

Gingerbread House Tree Decoration

Handpainted Gingerbread House Tree Decoration

Gingerbread House with a Candy Cane

I've also painted a little Gingerbread Man for a Tree Decoration.

Watch out here comes the history snippet.. 

The popularity of the Gingerbread Man has been attributed to Queen Elisabeth 1. (1533-1603) It is said that she had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the likeness of some of her important guests and courtiers.

Gingerbread Man Christmas Tree Decoration

Christmas Fairy & Elf Doors have been a hit this year too, they are great for weaving a story around, they are a way for Santa's helpers to pop in from the North Pole to see how the children are behaving or as an alternative to a Santa Key. If you are going away from home for the festivities you can take the Door with you and Santa will know where to leave any presents.

I have traditional Reds and Greens,

Christmas Elf Doors in Red & Green

lovely Blues

Christmas Elf & Winter Fairy Doors in Blues

and even Pretty Pinks..

Pink Christmas Doors for the Winter Fairy

Don't forget that if you'd like to purchase any of these items (or similar) please contact me.

I hope you all have a great week and don't eat all the advent chocolates before the first week is out!!

This post is linked to  Handmade Harbours Linky Party

Jan x

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer & Christmas Tree Decorations

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has been a favourite character since his creation by Robert L. May in 1939. He was first commissioned, drawn and appeared in a colouring book. Did you know that Robert May considered naming the reindeer "Rollo" and "Reginald" before deciding upon using the name "Rudolph"?

Here are some of my Rudolph influenced Christmas Tree Decorations...

Red Nosed Reindeer

Christmas Tree Hanging Decoration

Reindeer Christmas Tree Decoration

Rudolph has been immortalised on the big screen, his first appearance was in 1944 and there have been many short films and movies made since.

The well known Rudolph song was first published in 1949 and sung by Gene Autry, it became the Christmas Number 1 in that year and has been sung by countless children since....

A Herd of Reindeer

These Decorations are available through my online shops (links in side bar) or you can contact me through this blog :)

Don't forget to pop over to Handmade Monday.

Regards

Jan x

Santa Claus & Robins

Hello all, apologies for such a short post from me for this Handmade Monday. I've been busy painting more Christmas Decorations, this time it's Santa's and Robins. They have a slightly glittery finish but unfortunately it's not showing up in the photo's.

Santa Claus Christmas Tree Decorations

Robin Redbreast Tree Decorations

These first ones are destined for a local shop I have some of my items in, I've also been asked by a second shop for decorations for part of their window display and I'm painting more for a local Art Gallery. These will all be on a sale or return basis so fingers crossed they will be the 'sale' rather than the 'return'. I'm really enjoying painting these (I may have even got carried away and forgotten when to stop!!) so I'm also selling them through my Folksy Shop my Wow Thank You Shop (when I get a chance to list them) and my Facebook Page

Got to run, I've got a kitchen full of Santa's waiting to be sprinkled with a bit of sparkle.

Jan x

Christmas Hanging Decorations & Chalkboards

 On Thursday I had a table at an 'Autumn Shopping Event' at a lovely little village school in Cambridgeshire. The organiser found me through my facebook page,  and she sent me an invitation asking if I'd like to attend. It was held in the school hall and started at 3pm untill 6.30pm. I went and I had a lovely time, there was a wood turner, a jam and chutney maker (mmm the jar of Banana & Lemon I bought is yummy), a Jewellery maker who sold lovely fresh water and seed pearl pieces. There was a lovely lady who knitted and crocheted wonderful Ruffle Necklaces and Scarves. It wasn't an exclusively handmade event but it was very pleasant non the less.

Did I take photo's?... No,  did I remember my camera?... Yes,  did I forget to take batteries?... No, but I forgot that they were flat, silly me. 
My best sellers (besides my Fairy Doors) were the Christmas Countdown Chalkboards

Christmas Countdown Chalkboards

and Christmas Hangy Decorations. I'll be putting these in my Folksy Shop and in my Facebook albums.

Hand painted Christmas Hanging Decorations

Do you like my display tree? I used a couple of twigs from the garden, painted them white and sprinkled it with glitter. I set the twigs into a tub of stones and plaster of Paris to make sure it was sturdy.

I had a successful and pleasing afternoon, I hope you all had a pleasing week too. I'm off now to check out the great blogs over at The Handmade Harbour blogspot


Jan X