Christmas shopping evening at Hertfordshire Craft Collective

It's been a while since I've featured the Hertfordshire Craft Collective at Battlers Green Farm in Radlett, Herts, so I thought the recent Christmas shopping evening was a good excuse to show you all the lovely vintage and handmade on show.

Anything catch your eye?  ;-)

My first Christmas Vintage and Handmade Fair

Sorry I've been absent for a while but November has been so very hectic. Some time back in early summer my vintage mad friend and I thought of a insane super idea to put our vintage obsession to use by holding a vintage fair. 

Well after months of planning our Christmas Vintage and Handmade Fair took place on Sunday 25th November. First we had to find the right venue. Then seeking out quality stall holders to take part took a lot of work - we wanted to get the right mix of vintage and handmade with lot's of variety. Marketing the event was spread over many months. As well as newspaper adverts and lots of social networking we hand delivered over 1000 leaflets locally door to door - out in the rain on Halloween two police officers looking out for misbehaving kids suggested we might be a little old for trick and treating!  

But finally the big day arrived, our lovely stall holders set up their wares and for a moment we panicked. Would anyone come?! Opening the doors to the public at 11am We needn't have worried as a steady trickle of curious people made their way into the hall for the very first vintage fair in the area.

By lunchtime the place was buzzing and there was a queue of people waiting to buy tea and cake in our cosy vintage team room run by Vintage Tea 2 You

Here's some of the vintage and handmade gorgeousness on sale...

After all the months of hard work our fair came together and it was such a fun day. Customers bought Christmas gifts, our stall holders were happy and we were exhausted!  

We're already dreaming of a summer brocante.......

Upcycle project

Take one 60s bedside cabinet

And some luxurious paper - I bought these at Paperchase

Remove drawers and un screw handles

Cut paper to cover drawer allowing an additional 1.5cm around the edges. Brush PVA glue onto front of drawer and press on paper to fit. 

 Apply glue to the edges of the underside of the drawer and turn over the paper and press to stick. This can be a bit tricky - pegs are useful for holding the paper in place while it sticks.

Use a needle to push through the paper to locate the hole for the handle and re-attach.

I gave this cupboard two coats of Farrow & Ball French Grey.

Ta-da!