On my online workbook this week: The year is so new it… sparkles!

Dear

This week's inspiration is a fresh new creative spark for the new year.

My tip for you is about adding the snow… and making it last.

Fun fact: the snow used in the film The Wizard of Oz was a mixture of foam and chrysotile, a type of asbestos! It seems unthinkable to us now because of course now we know better. And so we adjust even what we consider design solutions today when we find out it is not quite what we hoped for, don’t we?

In my journey towards a waste free design room I struggled with the artificial snow I am adding to my winter designs. I love how it looks. It adds exactly what I need for my snow covered Christmas designs. I just don’t like how it makes what I create difficult to compost, though. So I came up with a compromise. I will continue to add the snow… but I will do so with A Sustainable Plan.

It is a bit of extra effort but no snow gets trashed in my design room.

To begin with I choose only high quality shredded plastic snow that can be soaked in warm water to remove it from compostable design elements, rinsed and then re-used. I use this pack of artificial snow. It is always available early winter every year but sells out pretty quickly.

Then as I add the snow to the designs I keep the snow clean so that I can reuse it. The easiest way to do this is to line your work surface with a clean plastic sheet before adding the snow to the design. All the leftover snow drops on the sheet. The plastic sheet can then be rolled up and the leftover snow be poured back into a pouch (see the picture above) to be used again at a later stage.

It is amazing how long a bag of snow now lasts when you are mindful of managing waste!

I have a few batches of artificial snow for me to choose from in my design pantry: new snow for designs where it will be visible like where I only need a dusting of powdery snow. I use these sparingly and once the design is cleared away I pour the snow back into the pouch.

The scooped up snow bits (that dropped while I was gluing it on to a design) are used for larger surfaces or to fill gaps. This is the bulk of the snow that I use for my designs.

And finally cleaned snow. I glue all the snow with wood glue so that once the flowers fade I can pick out all the plant material to be composted, remove all the accessories like the crystals and then soak the snow covered design armature in warm water overnight to dissolve the wood glue so that the plastic snow floats on the surface making it easy to scoop up with a sieve, air dry to be used again. These I mix with wood glue into a thick paste and I use it to help build wintery armatures.And no need to be too tidy about picking out the debris. The glue and any tiny debris and bits that I might have missed while washing (such as dried twigs or bark that got stuck in the snow) helps to make the armature even stronger and can be used to fill gaps to build up areas or create reinforcing for areas that need extra support.

And finally when the snow is a bit too “recycled” to still look pretty I use it as a filler or stuffing to plump up designs that need a bit more invisible support.

And nothing is wasted.

Enjoy!

Every good wish for a fun and flower filled 2025,

Christine