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Creating a Christmas display with Department 56 villages is a fun and much anticipated annual project. Besides collecting houses, store fronts, people, trees and other village necessities, you will probably want to add snow to your village surroundings for a realistic holiday look. After all, “dashing through the snow” without the snow just isn’t the same.
If you are new to Department 56 collecting, or if you need lots of snow ideas and recipes all in one place, this is a good place to start. This handy article collects together all the best ideas on the Web about making and using snow in all kinds of Department 56 decorating, from lighted village centerpieces to large tabletop displays. Mostly through trial and error, dedicated collectors have come up with some great budget saving ideas for this essential winter element.
Get those creative juices flowing! Learn some different ways you can create snow and use it to decorate Christmas miniature villages, landscapes, and village scenes.
While Department 56 carries fresh fallen snow material, there are several ways you can make your own snow from scratch or from a readymade product. Each idea creates a different snowy effect. The idea is to make the snow as realistic as possible without compromising the items in your village.
Remember, any product you add to your village should come off easily with soap and water and should not leave any damaging marks on your buildings or figures. For the most authentic display, use a combination of ideas to create the appropriate snowy effect—like thick, mounding snow for parking lots, and feather light snowflakes for dusting roof tops and trees.
To make snow from scratch, mix water and Ivory Snow powder. Use an electric kitchen mixer and add the ingredients gradually until the mixture forms a nice thick consistency. When it dries, it will take on the appearance of real snow.
To enhance the look of the Ivory Snow powder mix, start with a large piece of Styrofoam. Use an electric carving knife or other cutting tool to size the Styrofoam to the desired shape. Pour the thick snow mixture over the Styrofoam to cover it completely. Ensure you have uneven areas, or gentle bumps and indentations. These imperfections will make the snowscape look realistic.
If you want, position strands of tiny white lights and cover any exposed cord with the mixture. Once dry, arrange your houses and shops to create a perfect snowy village scene.
Some collectors recommend using Blitz Sno, or similar readymade spray can snow product available at most craft or hobby stores. Start by spraying the Blitz Sno onto sheets of wax paper. Once it has dried, scrape the snow off of the paper. This snow is perfect to use as freshly fallen snow and can be a real money saver too.
You can also use other products, such as Fluff and Twinkle Fluff to give your village a light dusting. It has the advantage of being simple to use and easy to clean up.
There are several ways to use snow in your display to create special effects. This is where you really make your snow village shine.
Now you are ready to pull it all together. If you are just starting your collection or if this is your first large display, don’t despair! Once you’ve collected a range of village buildings, you don’t have to go to great expense to display them.
While there are many great ideas for Christmas village displays out there here’s a simple one for getting started. To create a snowy Christmas village that demands attention, create a base using boxes of various sizes. Arrange the boxes so that their vertical profile resembles a triangle shape. Try shoe boxes, or even the D56 storage boxes themselves. Put a pocketbook inside to give the box a little weight if you are worried about it toppling over.
Cover the boxes with white batting or a white cloth. Then, cut Styrofoam into sizes that fit each village piece that will be displayed. Some collectors go as far as to cement the buildings to the Styrofoam base with white tub caulking. This way, the building and base are ready to go year after year. If you choose not to permanently attach the buildings to a base, arrange the Styrofoam pieces and village buildings on the various boxes. The boxes allow the buildings to be viewed at different heights which makes the display more interesting.
Add some snow (either store-bought, or made yourself), in strategic places to unify the buildings and hide cords or mini-lights. Add trees, stop signs, streets lights, people and other accessories. Finally, give everything a light dusting. Add icicles where appropriate and sprinkle them with glitter.
Finally, many of the extra materials you use to decorate your Christmas village can be used over again next year if you store them properly. An airtight plastic bag will keep most fake snow creations like new. You may also find it helpful to store copies of your snow recipes and snow decorating materials with your village buildings so they are easy to find. If you need additional materials to put the finishing touches on your new village, or if you expand your village with new buildings, at least you will have all your snow-making supplies in one place.
So, let your creativity shine and create an indoor winter wonderland that family and friends look forward to year after year.
Leanne Tremblay is the successful publisher of Hooked On Department 56, a site for ideas on collecting and displaying Department 56 snow villages, Christmas village accessories, and figurines.