How to Make a Snow Village Mantel Display

Decorate for winter and Christmas with a snow village on the mantel.

Decorating with a snow village on your mantel at Christmas can become a family tradition. You can make the village with a few items from the craft store. You also can add to your village each year by getting the family together and making one more piece every Christmas. Date the bottom of the pieces each year and create a tradition that can continue for many years to come.

Things You'll Need

• Ruler
• Pencil
• 2 sheets 1/4" foam core board
• Exacto knife
• Spray paint (grass green)
• Craft paint (red, blue, purple, hunter green)
• Artist's brushes
• Black marker
• Spray glue
• Glittery and non-glitter bags of craft snow
• Tape
• Votive candles in glass holders

Instructions

1. Measure your mantel with a ruler to see how long and wide the top is and decide how big you want your village.

2. Use a ruler and pencil and draw the outline silhouette of village houses on a foam core board. Draw the houses different heights but connected to each other. Make the houses three inches taller than you want them when finished; for example, if you want the houses to be 12 inches tall, draw them 15 inches tall. You will turn three inches under at the bottom to make the stand for the village. Draw the houses with tall roofs and put square windows in the houses. Slightly exaggerate the shapes.

3. Use the exacto knife and, on a work surface, cut out the silhouettes of the top half of the houses. Leave the houses attached to each other. Cut out the windows also. Score a line across the board on the back three inches from the bottom below the houses. Do not cut through. Bend this score backward. The bottom three inches will be half of your stand.

4. Draw on a second foam core board a forest of trees that are taller than your houses. Draw them also three inches taller at the bottom. The tree silhouettes will be behind the village houses on the mantel, so they should be four to five inches taller than the houses. Again, leave the trees all connected and use the knife just to cut the top half silhouettes of the trees. Score this board three inches from the bottom across the front of the board, below the trees. Don't cut through it. Bend this score forward.

5. Spray-paint the tree silhouettes with grass-green spray paint. Let dry. Hand-paint the houses with craft paint and artist brushes, making one house red, one blue, one purple and one hunter green. Repeat if you have more houses attached. Paint the roofs brown. Allow the craft paint to dry.

6. Outline the houses, the windows and the roof lines with black marker. Draw front doors on the houses and outline the green tree silhouettes. Add details on the roofs and trees with the marker if you wish. Let dry.

7. Spray the houses and trees with glue in small areas on the roofs of the houses, on the edge of the trees and wherever you want snow to lie on the village. Sprinkle shiny and matte craft snow on the glued areas. Use both kinds of snow for a better visual effect. Do small areas at a time because the glue dries quickly.

8. Stand the two pieces together, with houses in front of the trees. The bottom of the houses bends back and the bottom of the trees bends forward. Where they meet, tape the two pieces together across the boards to connect them on the top and bottom. You now have a six-inch floor between the houses and the trees. Insert three or four votive candles in glass containers between the houses and trees. The candlelight will shine on the trees and through the windows, making the snow glimmer. Sprinkle snow around the base of the village on the mantel to add to the snow-village effect.

Tips & Warnings

• Make the village the size you wish to accommodate your mantel.

• Add little plastic people outside the houses if you wish.

• Spray and use paint and glue in a well-ventilated area.

• Be careful using the knife.

References

• HGTV: Snow Village Mantel Display