Snowflake Mantel

Hi, I’m Holly {one half of the sister duo} from My Sister’s Suitcase. Nat is the other half {and my best friend!} We are currently living in different states, so we started our blog to share our latest creative projects with each other. We kinda drive our husbands crazy, but it’s worth it! We love Kristyn and we’re excited to be a part of her Christmas in July celebration this month. Christmas is my favorite time of year and I can’t believe we are already halfway there!

Today, I’ll be sharing one of my favorite tutorials from last Christmas, my Snowflake Mantel:

1 – What is your favorite holiday and why?

Yes, Christmas IS my favorite holiday {with Thanksgiving as a close second. PIE. ‘Nuff said.} Basically, from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, we have some kind of holiday festivities happening, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

2 – What is your favorite Christmas Tradition?

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is a Countdown Calendar I started with my kids last year. Every day, we get to do something together as a family. It could be as simple as playing a board game to building a fort and eating dinner inside… that was one of our favorites! We also make lots of treats, go caroling, and do secret acts of service for others. It really made our holiday time together special, having something to look forward to doing together every day. We can’t wait to do it again this year!

3 – What is your all-time favorite Christmas Movie?

We are a movies and popcorn family! So of course, we love an excuse to snuggle up and enjoy our favorite Christmas movies 🙂 My favorite to watch with the kids is A Charlie Brown Christmas, but my all time favorite would have to be Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. I have wonderful memories of watching it with my mom, and to an Arizona gal, seeing the snowfall scene at the end was pretty magical!

4 – What has been the best present you’ve ever received and why?

Over the years, I have received some pretty amazing and thoughtful gifts for Christmas. But as I get older, the ones that I cherish most are the simple, handmade items or letters from loved ones. I absolutely adore getting handwritten cards and “coupons” from my husband and kids. They know how to melt a mama’s heart!! One year, my sister wrote a really special letter to all of us with her testimony and that was really awesome… I still have it and will cherish it always! Sometimes simple is best.

5 – Why do you blog?

OK, so last question before we get to my Snowflake tutorial…. why do we blog?? Well, I think that is pretty simple too. We love having a place to express our creativity and it is important to have something that is just our own. As moms of young kids, our free time is pretty limited! But doing something we love and taking time for our own interests, helps us to be better in all the other areas of our lives too. Now, that being said, it is definitely a balancing act and we’ve had to learn how to be okay with not posting for a week if our families need us 🙂 It has been really fun to share this adventure with my sis and we can’t wait to see what the next year brings!

I am excited to share a simple decor idea with you guys for transforming your mantel area {or any wall in your home} to a stunning winterscape. Who would have guessed that the inspiration for this project hit me in the dollar store? This is what I found:

ENJOY!!