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I just love seeing all of the homes decorated for holidays. I am just stating to get some things out. Please share photos.

If you do something unusal, would love to hear how you accomplished it.

Thank you for all the enjoyment I recieve from this board.

Have a wonderfull holiday season. I like to think of the holidays as being just more than one day or one meal. With family spread out, don't always get to celebrate on the very day. I also love the time between the 25th and 1st.

Will try to post some photos when get some things done too.

Hi, Strings. I put my village display together for this year.

Graciepj, your village display is awsome. Love that you varied the height of the pieces. Thanks for sharing.

My area at this time is narrow, so mine are all lined up in a row. Have been wanting to put some highter than others.

What kind of base do you have?

quote:

Originally posted by Strings:
What kind of base do you have?

I'm using a base made of layers of styrofoam atop two square folding tables covered with a flannel sheet. A seller on eBay made the base. For next year, I think I will add more height to the back two tiers so that you can see the houses more clearly. This year, I plan to make some faux snow to sprinkle throughout the display as soon as I can get out to the store for the ingredients.

beautiful. thanks for sharing. I put up a small village of vintage houses. will post when done-by the end of next week..

Lets all share our chroistmas decor,,it is such fun.....

Graciepj, thanks about the base info.

Intrigued by your mentioned by your home made snow. Would you mind sharing the "recipe" for that.

homebody4, looking forward to seeing your village display.

quote:

Originally posted by Strings:
Intrigued by your mentioned by your home made snow. Would you mind sharing the "recipe" for that.

After doing some research, I think I will be using plain Epsom salt. The other "recipes" were 1. equal amounts of baby powder and kosher salt or 2. Epsom salt mixed with 2 tablespoons of clear glitter. Some people recommended using soap flakes, but I would be afraid that they might get wet.

Thanks, Graciepj.

Last year bought some faux snow that has to be moitened and it dries back up. Not recommended to use on wood. My village sets on the buffet, so don't want it harmed by moisture.

Thanks again. I have heard that some just sprinkle baking soda on their villages.

We picked out a new artifical tree today, so hope to get it up this weekend. Hope it is a lot easier to connect the lights than the last one.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Strings,

This is nothing unusual (at least not for me), as I've been collecting and displaying my Santas for 20+ years, but I did get them up today, so I thought I'd share.

Strings, I would be afraid to put any substance on unprotected wood for fear that it would interact with the finish and ruin it. Maybe you could get a piece of glass cut to fit your buffet to use under your village.

Nitalynn, your Santas look so cheerful grouped together like that. I'm glad you posted a picture of them.

Nitalynn, that is a wonderful collection of Santas. Thanks for sharing.

A piece of glass would be a good idea.

I do use the faux snow, but won't use the wet snow unless get something to protect the wood.

Didn't get as much done today as I hoped.

A nearby town has a Christkindl Market each year in December. The main decorations include a 15 foot high German Pyramid.

We're in transition; home being built, so no decos for us this year.

NExt year, here is my plan: buy a thrift store tree and spray paint it a muted gold and then decorate it with amber twinkle lights. The ornaments, etc., are still working out in my mind.

I have been looking for trees (we donated all our previous decos) and have not found any I like (much less want to pay for; YIkes!!!)

DH will be thrilled that I will be saving so much dough

I have used baking soda on my village many times. It is easy, cheap (if you buy the really big bag at Costco) and it looks very real. I would sprinkle it around with a big serving spoon, making drifts and really covering the ground. I would then use a little brush to sweep away foot paths. The final touch was to sprinkle a very light dusting of fine glitter here and there so it would sparkle like real snow. I am not sure if I am going to set up the village this year, as I only do it once in a while. I'll search around and see of I can find an old picture.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cocok,

I did find some old pictures, taken many years ago, back when I didn't have a good camera, so I apologize for the poor photo quality.

And here is another close up showing the baking soda/glitter snow.

And one last photo.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cocok,

And what the heck...while I am at it, it'll share a couple more things I did with my village. I cut my own styrofoam base trying to make it look like the edges were chunky ice. (Don't know if I succeeded there) Then I put that on a piece of furniture that is in my family room. I painted a big canvas backdrop that I hang over the piece of furniture - like a painting is hanging there - I used dark blue canvas and splattered it with white paint to look like stars, and I painted a moon - which doesn't show in the pictures. It is supposed to be a night sky. Anyway, that adds to the realistic look of the scene, kind of gives the little "world" a perimeter.

My youngest son absolutely was wild about setting up the village when he was younger, and so I let him do all the planning of the layout every year, and all the actual set up of the pieces, so he gets that credit. In those days I would budget to purchase one new piece a year and he would pour over the website for months making the decision on what we should buy. Oh, those days were fun!!!

Again...wish these photos were better, but hopefully you can see what I am trying to share.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cocok,

I have a question for you Nitalynn - how are you posting bigger photos? I have to shrink mine down to practically postage size to load. (I use Picasa) Just wondering what you do.

Cocok, you and your son did a really nice job. The snow looks real.

Local quilt shop owner has her late Mother's New England Village that she displays in her shop now. She made a fabric backdrop of sky and mountains. Think it might be a night sky, not sure. Really adds to it.

Mine is under a window, so no backdrop. Not sure how youngest grandson would do with the soda. May just stick with the cotton-like snow.

Put up the tree today. Not decorated. Just got it and I was anxious to see how it would do. Smaller than the previous artifical tree. Fits our space better. Will try to post photos when I get it decorated.

Cocok, it was so nice to see pictures of your village. I know what you mean about not setting it up every year. It's so time consuming to set up and take down. I buy the big bags of baking soda to use as a cleanser, so I might try that for snow instead of Epsom salts. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cocok - I am still using the "Paint" trick that someone posted on here a few years back - I make a copy of my photo to save the original, then open the copy with Paint and stretch/skew to 25%. Does that make sense?

Thanks, Nitalynn, I do know what you mean. It does make sense.

And Strings - I don't know how old your grandson is, but my son starting working on the village with me when he was about 7 years old, and could do it alone by the time he was 9 or 10. In the pictures I posted he had done all the snow, with me probably watching and pointing out places he might have missed.

The two youngest grandsons tend to want to play and rearrange the cars and "people".

The youngest would not leave the soda alone. He would have it everywhere.

Hope I can get them to help me when I am ready to work on it.

Love hearing and seeing everyone's ideas.