Bring and Share Desserts

As I said on Sunday last week my friends and I had our Bring and Share Christmas Dinner.

For a look at past dinners click here.

We always split up the meal so each person brings something and this year I was given desserts.

I made an apple crumble, Christmas cookies and a chocolate cake.

This was the recipe I used for the apple crumble. Just some notes I jotted down from my Mum's instructions.

I'd never made one before but I think my first attempt when pretty well.

It was just your standard apple crumble, but I added some dried cranberries in with the apple for a festive touch.

I used a simple sugar cookies recipe for the Christmas cookies and made some into snowmen...

...and some into snowflakes complete with a sprinkling of edible glitter. Because it's Christmas!

There were also some angels, stars and Christmas trees.

The cookies were a big hit with my friends wrapping up the left over ones to take home.

And finally the chocolate cake.

I used this recipe and it is a winner.

I finished it off with some dark chocolate curls from Jordans Mill.

Jordans as in the cereal company, so these chocolate curls are the same ones you get in the chocolate Country Crisp.

We had way to much food so some of these came back home with me - but my family weren't complaining!

This Week I...

...put up my exhibition at the Radlett Centre with my Dad's help.

The exhibition features over 20 of my paintings and it's really great to see them all hung together.

It's up for almost a month which should be plenty of time for lots of people to have a look, and maybe even make a purchase.

Also this week I finished a few extra things for my stall at the Letchworth Arts Centre's Christmas Craft Fair.

What do we think of the elf on the stocking? I like the pom-pom on his hat.

Thanks for the photo Lizzi!

On Thursday my friends and I had our 7th Annual Bring and Share Christmas Dinner.

This year we had additions like asparagus and a cheese board. We're getting fancy!

I'll share my contributions to the dinner next week.

How was your week?

What Christmassy things have you been up to?

Christmas Pudding Baubles

Here are some more Christmas decorations I've been working on.

Christmas pudding baubles!

These are a fun alternative to the winter scenes I usually paint on baubles.

First I painted the whole thing brown. Once that had tried I painted the white for the icing.

Then I covered the icing in glitter. I used clear glitter that on mass looks white.

I painted the top part red for the holly berry and stuck on some holly leaves made out of painted green card.

Really simple but really fun.

These ones I made have already sold at the Letchworth Arts Centre's Christmas Craft Fair. I may have to make some more!

Craft Fair Set Up

I'm now done with all the craft fairs I'm doing this season - well the Letchworth Arts Centre one is on going but I'm done with the setting up - so I thought I would talk about how I arrange my stalls.

 

This is how my table looked this year.

At this particular craft fair I was fortunate to have the space to have two notice boards as part of my display, but usually it's just one.

The cork boards I use were purchased at a local car boot for £1 each! One was still in the packaging. Such a bargain, especially since I couldn't find one the size I wanted in the shops, let alone for such a cheap price.

My Dad made this stand for the board which is two planks of wood held together by three long screws which can be tightened around the board to make it stand up.

My displays this year have been all about baskets. In fact a lot of displays I saw this year used them.

Mine came from around my house and from charity shops. That round one in the middle was only 50p.

I always make sure everything is clearly labelled with its price because as a customer I hate having to ask how much something is.

This year I started using clothes pegs to display the price of everything within a basket.

It helps to group together things that have the same price.

To display the crochet hats my Mum made I bought this polystyrene head on Ebay.

I call her Creepy Maureen.

As well as the cork board stand I also have this rail stand, also made by my Dad.

I use this one to display my hand painted baubles and other hanging ornaments.

This is how my displays have looked in the past.

Before the cork boards I used a piece of trellis in the wooden stand. I also used bright blue cloths on the table to be eye-catching, but I prefer the simpler white tablecloths I use now.

Another thing I do at craft fairs is have a list of all the items with the prices and every time I sell something I mark it off. This helps me keep track of what's popular and how much I sell at different fairs.

Have any of you done craft fairs? Have any display tips?

This Week I...

...have been preparing for my exhibition which goes up next week.

So much work!

When I'm earning the big bucks I'm going to employ someone to do all this and I'll just do the paintings.

On Saturday I had a table at my local Christmas Fayre.

I did quite well considering it was a community event with things like tombolas and raffles, as opposed to a craft fair.

The person who had the table next me didn't turn up so I was allowed to spread on to that table which was great.

My best seller was definitely the Christmas stockings. I've made so many!

Now that it's December are you getting into the Christmas spirit?

Does anyone have their trees up yet?