For the fifth year in a row, the Friendship Heights Village Center held its annual artisan fair, "A Holiday Affair." Just in time for the big shopping season, the fair offered practical and handmade gifts from both local and national artists.

The Friendship Heights Village Center associate program director Anne O'Neil and curator Millie Shott decided to put on the fair to supplement other art programs the village center hosts.

"[We started the event] to offer residents of the Village of Friendship Heights, neighbors, friends and family, a chance to purchase unique hand-crafted items right here in the village," said O'Neil. "The participating artists are chosen annually to highlight a particular artistic specialty, such as painting, woodturning, fiberworks, basketry, pottery, fused glass, and jewelry."

With the event growing each year, O'Neil said the attendance is usually influenced by the weather, with last year's event drawing in more than 350 people.

It was Bowie, MD resident Sharon A. Keyser-Jackson's second year showcasing her handmade bags, glasses cases and key fobs at the artisan fair. A self-proclaimed "fabric fiend," Keyser-Jackson always thinks about functionality when making her items.

"I make small bags that you can bring along on shopping trips and over-sized glasses cases to accommodate large sunglasses," said Keyser-Jackson.  

Although she usually works on multiple projects at once, all together each purse takes her about 10 hours to complete.

"It's a labor of love," said Keyser-Jackson.

The fair, which is free to the public, brings in new artists each year. To score a booth, the artist pays $25 and his/her work is screened by O'Neil and Shott to ensure that it's handmade. In order to keep competition down between the vendors, the fair typically doesn't allow similar items to be sold by different artists — meaning some artists, especially jewelry makers, are turned away.

It was Silver Spring resident William Peirce's first year having a booth at the artisan fair. Since the birth of his daughter 26 years ago, Peirce, a woodworker, has been making wooden baby rattles. After 41 years of teaching, Peirce retired and has focused on his woodworking hobby for the past three years. To make wooden bowls, Peirce uses a bandsaw to cut sheets of wood into rings, which he stacks and glues. His small bowls take about seven hours to complete. Due to the intense labor needed to make the bowls, the prices can be a little steep for some of Peirce's customers. To please everyone, he also makes less-expensive wooden earrings.

Bethesda resident Marian Gay heard about the artisan fair after receiving a postcard in the mail.

"It's my first year coming here, but there seems to be a nice selection of gifts for the holidays," said Gay.

For the first time, this year's artisan fair had a preview night, on Friday from 7-9 p.m. The fair is also open on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.