A Valentine for Winter

I love winter.
I know there are lots of folks who don't like it one bit and that is okay.
For me, winter has always been magical and a little bit mysterious. I love the beauty of a snowfall, the glistening and sparkling that happens on a calm moonlit night.
The dazzling brilliance of a white blanketed, blue sky day.
Winter sunrises....such beautiful, delicate light.
Snowflakes, brisk air, sleeping forests.
It's also a time of great creativity. The tasks of summer are all done until the next season. Everything is at rest and there is time to turn inward and let all those creative sparks grow into ideas and visions.
In the heat and loud fecundity of summer, I dream of the coldest, quietest season.
Here is a little offering for winter.
A valentine.

 This project began as a Half Scale Arch Front Room Box.

I assembled the box, setting aside the arch front. Painted the interior of the box and cut papers for the exterior.

You can see here, I was playing with various bits and decided on mot everything but the clock to add to the piece.

I used the Bead Strand Heart Dangle for the main focal point in the box, painting it a delicate pink and adding pearly details and a little sparkle.

In the picture below, you can see the little dot details I added to the inside rear of the box ( I used a Sharpie Poster paint Marker) and then added snowflakes from the Winter Shape Set and the Snowflake Shape Set popping them up a bit with foam core poster board. I did the same thing with the Bead Strand Heart Dangle, but used more foam core, setting it up closer to the front of the box.

After I got the major players glued down and dried, I attached the arch front of the box and then began playing with the placement of the trees and exterior snowflakes, adding little dots of 'snow' with my marker in the background on the arch front.

I added flat back pearls to the center of each snowflake with the exception of the one in the center of the big heart. That one I covered with glitter and glued a Swarovski flat back crystal to the center.
I glued a white painted candle holder to the bottom, but thought it was a bit too low. I had a tin Jello mold sitting on my desk and impulsively painted it white, turned it upside down and glued it to the candlestick.
Perfect! A little bit whimsical and rustic.

Thank you for stopping by and Happy New Year to all!!

Supplies:
Half Scale Arch Front Room Box
Bead Strand Heart Dangle
Winter Shape Set
Snowflake Shape Set

Additional Supplies from Alpha Stamps:
Retro Bottle Brush Tree Set - Green
Snow and Cocoa Bottle brush Tree Set
Stickles Diamond
Candlestick Holder
Mixed Sized Ivory Flat-Back Pearls

Other:
Bo Bunny Winter Wishes 6x6 Paper Pad
Tin Jello Mold