Christmas Mantel Wonderland

The holidays have arrived!  I finally managed to find some time this weekend - and spent lots of it around the house finishing the Christmas tree, baking, and decorating.  For reasons I can't explain, Christmas is the only time of year where I get crabby if I don't have time to craft.  There is no explanation for it - although I guess I just can't stand to be away from tinsel and glitter for more than a few hours.  What can I say, shiny things delight me.

I decided to spend this time finishing my Christmas mantel, after being inspired by many great ideas online, notably this one at Mod Vintage Life.  Although I have been collecting little things for a while now, I needed to pick up some supplies.  Too bad I went out in a blizzard (anyone see the Bears game today?) to discover that every craft store in the city of Chicago was out of fake snow spray and ornament hooks. Oh well.

I love my little glitter covered deer...

 and glitter covered trees...

I started out with a collection of magazine trees I've been making in my spare time at work, as well as little trees I've been finding at thrift stores and my little glass insulators.  I wondered, "how do I make these all look like they are from the same world?"

I decided the answer was glitter and Snow Tex.  Lots of it. 

I'm not entirely satisfied with it yet, I think the trees could be more glittery.  It's hard to get a feeling for it with these pictures... I am also not done with the wreath above...next time I have some daylight I'll try to get some better pictures...

Stay Warm*

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