winter wonderland

I just love the winter - the snow covered trees, and the puffy little birds flitting around.  So, this year I set out to create a winter wonderland in our home.

Not only is the winter wonderland new, but the mantel and the window are too.  Last summer, as my husband was re-siding our house he discovered that the fireplace was completely rotten (bad design), so he tore it out with plans of replacing it with a gas stove (maybe sometime soon). Without a fireplace (and mantel) we had no place to hang our stockings last year, so my husband made a darling wall hanging from beach wood and some hooks to hang stockings, and it worked great.  But, when we came across this wonderful window (only $8) during our trip to Olympia for our anniversary, I began dreaming of having a mantel again (even without a fireplace).  So, for the last two months we have been casually talking about it, and then out of the blue my husband called his good friend, Jens, who does beautiful finish work and they built this wonderful new mantel, I LOVE it!

The new mantel is the perfect space for creating our wonderland filled with trees.  Living here in the beautiful Northwest, I am drawn to trees; they are part of my soul.  When I came across this tree tutorial from Wise Craft, I ran to my sewing room and started digging through my stash for fabric.  In the past, I have always decorated in red and white for the holidays and frankly, I am just sick of it.  I still love red, but not as the dominant color. So, when I came across several colors of blue felt and an old blue plaid shirt, I knew I had found what I as looking for!

The little red bird was really fun to make, I totally "winged" it, patterning the body after a Chickadee, and I am pleasantly surprised with the end result!

Even the stockings are new, I couldn't stand the store-bought look of the old ones, and after my youngest was born, I could not find another one to match.  While digging though my stash, I found some tan and cream fabric and blue ric-rac for the loops.  I was pretty proud of my self for finishing them during nap time, but I already have a request from my husband to make the toe and heel on his stocking blue... so I guess I have a little more work to do! 

The red star in the window is very special to me, it belonged to my mom… having a piece of her in our wonderland brings a smile to my face, and I know she is up there watching, and smiling too.

Now, if it would just snow outside…