In years past I would always get a bit blue taking down the  Christmas decorations. The windows looked a bit bare and the landscape bleak. So, the tradition of decorating the windows, with as many paper snowflakes as we could cut out, was born. Then I saw Lisa Katzen, owner of Garnish (one of my favorite stores in Montclair), decorate her windows this season with strung cotton balls that looked just like snow. You may recall your grandmother doing this. This decoration is one of those old fashioned favorites of mine.

Materials

Here’s What You Need:

  • Cotton balls
  • Mono-filament (fishing line) you can also use white thread or dental floss
  • A sewing needle
  • White school glue or hot glue (optional)
Form balls and thread them with the needle

Step One: Cut a piece of thread or mono-filament the length of your window. Tie a knot at the end of the thread and thread the needle at the other end.

Step Two: Take a cotton ball and pull it apart into three even parts. Now roll each part in the palm of your hands into a ball. Take a whole cotton ball and fluff it out to make it bigger. make about ten balls of different sizes. TIP: The balls do not at all have to be perfect they just need to look like those big puffy snowflakes we see in nature.

Thread about 10 balls

Step Three: String the cotton balls onto your thread. Alternate sizes so they look natural. If you are not using glue (the glue method is much easier) knot the thread where you want each cotton ball to sit everything you string a new cotton ball.

Step Four (if using glue): Lay the strung cotton balls on a table and space them out on your thread. Now place a tiny bit of glue at the bottom of each ball where the thread and ball join. Let dry and hang in your window.

I hung these in our windows and also from the light in my dining room. It does give the fun illusion of falling snow. I like illusions that I don’t have to shovel!

Questions? Just Ask Holly in comments.

7 replies on “Ask Holly: Winter Windows”

  2. I am SOOO glad I fixed my baristakids password problem so that I can finally tell you how funny, creative and wonderful your posts are!!! I LOVE mR. Jingle and miss him 🙁

  3. I’m glad to hear you say that, alma. No one has been a bigger or more loyal fan of Mr. Jingle’s than I. Losing him has left a huge hole in my life, which I must find some way to fill. I’m currently trying to choose between talk therapy and scotch.

  6. I just want to be known as the MacGyver of crafts. Like I said you can also use dental floss and if you don’t have a needle take a twist tie and peel the paper off, now bend it in half and twist. You now have a needle!

    Hmm maybe Mr. Jingle’s friend Ms. Love-handle should come to Baristaville for February???

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