grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

  • Home
  • About
  • Media
  • Crafts
  • Farm
  • Food
  • Garden
  • Reading & Books
  • Sunday Letter
  • SHOP!
  • Privacy Policy

How to create a Dreamy Winter Wonderland

December 18, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner 4 Comments

how to create a dreamy wonderland

I’ve been adding a bit of holly, jolly to our home by creating winter wonderlands. This is a super simple project, y’all. If you’ve been feeling Grinch-like and haven’t summoned the energy to delve into full blown Christmas decorating, make a tiny, dreamy winter wonderland. In no time, the Christmas spirit will find you. Complete with sugarplums and jingle bells and Santa himself.

Promise.

How-to: dreamy winter wonderland:

  • Dig out your favorite small ornaments, teeny plastic toys, and vintage holiday decorations. The idea is to design a small wintry vignette, much like a Christmas version of the fairy gardens I see on Pinterest yet never make.
  • Buy a box of snow from your local craft store or use something on hand. I imagine cotton, sugar, glitter, confetti, shredded paper, snippets of rosemary or other greenery will work nicely for the frosty groundcover.
  • Gather a few small containers. I used silver platters, tin trays, a glass compote, and garden cloches. Use your imagination. Search your cabinets for small dishes and pieces of pottery. That shallow plant saucer in the garage would make a great base.
  • Channel your younger self. You remember her, right? She waited for Santa, studied the Sears Wish Book, and dreamed of her favorite toys. She left carrots for Dasher and Dancer and Rudolph. That younger self.
  • Put your dreamy winter wonderland together with a theme in mind. A theme will tie together the elements of your creation. I used favorite Christmas carols.

Really, that’s all there is to it.

Once you make your first dreamy winter wonderland, you’ll make another. Eventually, you’ll have to stop yourself before your entire house is filled with dreamy little wonderlands. Not that one can have too much dreamy or wonder.

Take a Peek:

I used my blue compote to create Blue Christmas. The house was made by my artist friend, Beth Macre. It’s a tiny replica of our Fayetteville home. This little world reminds me of those antique mercury glass ornaments with enchanted dioramas built in.

Blue Christmas

Let it Snow is nothing more than a silver tray, a few bottle brush trees, and a sprinkle of mica snow. This simple display makes a festive vignette on my coffee table.

Let it Snow

Frosty the Snowman adds whimsy in the powder room. A dusting of snow keeps him happy. Most of the trees and ornaments I use, including those in this wonderland, are no more than a couple of inches tall.

Frosty the Snowman

Winter Wonderland has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs, so I created my own little winter wonderland in a glass cloche. The base is flat which makes for easy arranging of snow and trees. Consider it a deconstructed snow globe. In other words, not to be shaken.

create a dreamy wonderland

This vintage Santa is from my childhood. Emphasis on vintage. One of the reindeer has gone missing. Santa’s sleigh could use a fresh coat of paint. The rusty tray looks like a rooftop if you use your imagination.

Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn’t go love this?

Up on the housetop, reindeer pause

Silent Night makes me extra happy, the song and the birthday of Christ. Several years ago, my friend, Jenny, lived in Rotterdam. She brought me the star ornament from the Netherland Christmas market. (I taped it to the top of the glass dome with regular Scotch tape.) I bought the sweet lamb in Iceland last summer. My son made baby Jesus when he was in Kindergarten. Heavenly and peaceful. Yes. I think so.

Silent Night

Other tips / ideas:

  • Add a small strand of battery-powered lights to make your scene come alive.
  • Build your dreamy winter wonderland inside a decorative lantern or terrarium.
  • If the bottom of your container is curved make it level by adding a piece of cardboard. Snow covers a variety of sins.
  • Create a woodland wonderland using small pinecones, twigs and acorns with bird / owl ornaments and white feathers instead of snow.
  • If you prefer, secure the components of your wonderland with adhesive putty.

For the Little Ones:

With a bit of supervision, the youngest of Santa’s helpers can create wonderlands in shoe boxes and cigar boxes to better contain the glittery snow. Can’t you see a dreamy winter wonderland made with Legos and Star Wars characters? Little People (are they still a thing?) and Matchbox cars? Of course, these wonderlands can’t be shaken like snow globes, but displayed on the mantle or bookcase, Santa will be sure to notice right when he comes down the chimney.

Seriously, I bet I could come up with fifty more ideas. Yes, this is what I do when I should be working on my next book.

Only 7 more sleeps!

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Create a dreamy winter wonderland this Christmas #craft #vintage [/tweetthis]

P.S. This is the snow I used.

mica snow

Musical Pairing:
Winter Wonderland, Eurythmics

This Time of Year

December 19, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner 10 Comments

This time of year.

I love love love this time of year. This time of year right before Christmas. This time of year when the days are pale and cold, and the bundling up to go for a walk takes as long as the walk itself.

Yesterday, I read half a book and napped on the couch underneath blankets. Two warm schnauzers curled next to me. I felt a little under the weather, a little tired, a little like maybe I needed to hibernate the afternoon away. So I did. Dreaming away the cold. Sunday afternoon is good for that.Continue Reading

University of Arkansas: Decking the Halls at Christmastime

December 15, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner 4 Comments

University of Arkansas at Christmas

Yesterday, I spent some time walking around the University of Arkansas. During this almost-winter, end-of-semester, Christmas-is-a-coming season, campus has a completely different feel. The Hill is no longer packed with tailgate tents. Gone is the new fall semester excitement centering around game day. Now, students laden with backpacks and plugged into earbuds rush from here to there, briskly, because the morning is cold, and there’s somewhere to be. Campus beats at a raw, efficient pace. Let’s get ‘er done and get to Christmas or home or graduation or wherever.

Buildings are decked with boughs of holly and crowned with holiday wreaths.

Fa la la, la la la, la la la.

Continue Reading

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Talya Tate Boerner


Hi! I'm Talya. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

Click to BUY NOW!

Talya Tate Boerner books
Gene, Everywhere

Never miss a blog post! Subscribe via email:

Receive my Monthly Newsletter?

Most Popular Posts…

  • Sunday Letter: 01.29.23
  • Nana's Strawberry Cake (the real one)
  • Yum Yum Cake - old southern recipe!
  • How to harvest Coneflower Seeds
  • SHOP!

Most Recent

  • Sunday Letter: 01.29.23
  • Sunday Letter: 01.15.23
  • Sunday Letter: 01.08.23
  • Sunday Letter: 12.18.22
  • Sunday Letter: 12.11.22

Prior Posts

Search Categories

Tags

A to Z April Blog Challenge Autumn BAT Book Reviews childhood Christmas creative writing prompt Dallas Desserts Eureka Springs Fall Fayetteville Food Gracie Lee Halloween Hemingway-Pfeiffer home humor Johnson Family Keiser Lake Norfork Lucy and Annabelle Mississippi County Mississippi Delta moving Munger Place Nana nature Northeast Arkansas Northwest Arkansas Osceola poem Reading Schnauzer simple living simple things spring spring gardening Summer sunday letter Talya Tate Boerner novel The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee Thomas Tate Winter Wordless Wednesday
Follow on Bloglovin

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!

All content and photos Copyright Grace, Grits and Gardening © 2023 · Web Hosting By StrataByte