It’s easy to forget the beauty of a fresh blanket of pure white snow in the rush of day to day activity. After a recent snowfall I took the girls outside to play, and for a good ten minutes I just sat and took it all in.
Watching the girls I reminisced about the winters of my childhood…..snow ball fights, building snow forts, sledding, ice skating, making snow angels, playing king of the mountain on the snow drifts, building snowmen, catching snowflakes on my tongue, and eating fresh snow with maple syrup drizzled on top! This was the inspiration for my winter mantel.
Starting on the left, I have a yarn wrapped bottle containing a sprig of gold berries and a collage of snowflake photographs taken under a microscope by a farmer in the year 1900. I added a few pine cones and glittery bird in a milk glass candy dish. 
At the center I placed a pair of ice skates that I wore as a kid…… 
…..and three snowballs created from Styrofoam balls coated with glue and rolled in Epsom salt and glitter. 
On the right, two more yarn wrapped bottles with berries and a large milk glass pedestal bowl filled with pine cones. 
A snowflake garland hangs across the top of the mirror. I bought the wood snowflakes on clearance after Christmas, then painted and glued glitter onto them. 
The mantel from a couple more angles….. 
I lived near Chicago when I was kid and the snow cover seemed to last the entire winter. Here in St. Louis the snow rarely accumulates. When it does, it melts within a couple days. I really do miss it. If I can’t have snow outside, then I am bringing it indoors this winter!