Craft Fair Acquisitions

For the last three years, I have attended a huge local craft fair in September at Holy Hill with my mom and my two sisters.

 Holy Hill's actual name is the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians at Holy Hill.
The Church sits atop a great hill, thus it's name, which sits in the middle of 435 acres of grounds. It is also home to the Brothers of Mount Carmel, or officially, the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. The Friars, who wear the robes of their Order, can be seen on the grounds and are the essential staff of Holy Hill. Their Order originally came from Bavaria in 1906, at the invitation of the Archbishop.

Every September there is a huge craft fair on the grounds. It is a beautiful place to visit and a pleasant place for a fall outdoor craft fair beneath the shady pines with the huge church on the hill as a backdrop.

Above: a picture of the Basilica, shrine and monastery buildings.

I was excited to find the vendor booth with the handcrafted witch dolls again, and had to buy another one for myself.

This is the new one. She wears a brown dress and has a burn-out velvet cloak. I have named her "Ellendea".

They are so beautifully made and at only $45, it seems almost like a steal, since it seems like there must be hours and hours of work involved. The woman who makes them says that she changed the design this year and made the nose longer. I also noticed that she made the dresses longer and more voluminous.

Ellendea will join her "sister", Euphraxia, who was purchased two years ago:

I also bought a few small things (a knitted hat, a painted Christmas ornament, home made soap) and these small folk art prints:

They are encased in plastic sleeves, so the colors are a little muted.

The artist who does these had a large vendor booth with all of the original, large-size paintings in the booth, plus lots of smaller prints. The original works were beautiful, with beautifully painted frames, but were a little out of my price range. The small 8x10 size prints were more in my budget.

This one is very colorful, but with the plastic over it, it's not quite so vivid. I got a kick out of the witch's skirt. I thought this would look cute framed and put out with my Halloween decorations.

The other two have a more nautical tone: I thought these two had a fun 19th century look to them.This one has lots of mermaids in it.

I love all the teeny little sailors in the rigging on this ship. I planned to frame these and put them in Erik's "Victorian gentleman's study", perhaps in a grouping with some maps and other folk art-type decor, including a scrimshaw tooth that used to belong to my father.

Thanks for stopping by!