Local Artisans Gather for Holiday Bazaar at Grounded Coffee Shop

Co-owner of Rose Hill's Grounded Coffee Shop, Candy Briffa, called this weekend's Holiday Bazaar a great success. "It's a community event that we do every year, with all local artists," Briffa explained, while managing the busy coffee bar. "I want to support the community artists, and this year it has been a great turnout."

The work of more than 10 local artisans was on display at Grounded this Saturday, for the annual Holiday Bazaar. The artists and visitors fit snuggly into the shop, creating a visual feast of colors and textures, mixed with the aroma of peppermint mochas and the sound of cheerful chatter.

Members of Boy Scouts Troop 1519, out of Alexandria Hayfield Farms, were present at the Bazaar, selling White House Christmas ornaments. They set up their table outside the coffee shop, and greeted locals as they filtered in and out throughout the afternoon.

Adam Schwartz, a baristo at Grounded by day, used the Bazaar to exhibit his hand-made jewelry for the first time. His jewelry is based on medieval armor patterns. A necklace that he was displaying looked like an elegant comment on medieval chain mail. "I've been making jewelry based on these patterns since I was 16," Schwartz said, "but this was my first opportunity to sell it."

Adorable dolls with felted hats and bodies were on display by Susy Andrews, who also makes purses and bags of the same fabric. The dolls are adorned with pink and red scarves and sun hats of felt, which are punctuated by a giant wooden button on top. Andrews explained how she came to this design: "It took a couple of years of trial and error to find the right pattern and crochet it."

A fuzzy hedgehog with purple hair was on display by Kris Fredrickson, sitting in for her daughter Kelly Trevithick, the artist. "She knits these hedgehogs and everybody loves them," said Fredrickson, "This was a big seller this year. I only have one left. Santa himself has actually been a client of mine."

Antique Dutch ice skates were on display by illustrator, artist and collector Audrey Boobar. Boobar lived in Amsterdam, which is where she acquired the antique skates, which are made simply of a long wooden footpiece and leather straps, and feature a beautiful painted winter scene on top. Audrey also draws on her Dutch experience artistically, creating Dutch-style paintings.

Christine Krisza was selling her unique "image-transfer pendants," which are a personal take on familiar images from nature or art. She explained the process she uses to create them: "I print up the image and submerge it in water. Then I place it in the metal jewelry piece and varnish it."

Grounded Coffee Shop will be featuring special holiday drinks this season, such as eggnog lattes, mint mochas and hot cider. The shop also features a "Giving Tree" from Girl Scout Troop 3338, which allows visitors to the shop to give presents to needy children. Patrons can pick a paper ornament on the tree, which has a child's gender and age written on it, and bring back an unwrapped gift for that child, which will be delivered by UCM this holiday season.