Silent Night Christmas decoration.

After creating several decorative pieces using natural branches, I was left with a hefty pile of short sticks. Now, when it comes to my craft supplies, I'm a bit of a hoarder. I admit it. I didn't want to throw them out because you never know what they may come in handy for! And I was right! Luckily, inspiration for this Silent Night decoration struck me at a very timely moment and I didn't have to keep those sticks laying around unused for too long. 

The inspiration for this piece was drawn from three sources; the first was the pile of sticks I had saved when I thought they could be arranged to make pine trees. Secondly, inspiration also came from a picture I stumbled across on Pinterest; a couple of trees and a moose with the partial lyric, "all is calm, all is bright". Finally, a decoration I had previously completed, the Noel Town, I figured the star and snow elements would look really nice in this project also. As soon as I had a rough concept in my head of what I wanted to make, I got to work.

I began by dry brushing the pallet with grey, then lightly with white paint. I liked these cool colours as they set the perfect backdrop for the wintery scene. Next, I constructed the pine trees by selectively stacking short sticks on top of each other at an angle. I drew and cut out a moose silhouette out of a thin foam placemat and painted it white. Next, I adhered into place a piece of natural bark I had picked up from the forest. I really loved the partial lyric that I saw in the photo on Pinterest, so I decided to incorporate that into my design as well. I painted it on freehand. Once all the main elements were in place, I lightly dry brushed the trees and bark in white to give the appearance of being covered in snow. Finally, I attached a few stars cut from tea-stained paper and some white foam sparkly balls to represent falling snow. 

I just love how this piece turned out! It's one of my favourite works from this past Holiday season. Rustic and organic, warm and inviting. Surely, a very unique and festive decoration!