I love crafting, so when I got an invite to visit Balsam Hill's showroom and participate in a holiday wreath decorating contest I jumped. I mean what could be better? An evening with others who like to craft, amazing Balsam Hill product to work with, wine, and light hors d'oeuvres to kick off the holiday season? Count me in!
Got kids who like to craft? Balsam Hill is having a kids' arts and crafts afternoon this Saturday December 6th from 11am to 1pm. If the event is anything like the one we attended, they're guaranteed to have fun.
Winter to me is synonymous with evergreens and snow. When I think of Winter, I think of Tahoe and fresh pine scent wafting through the air. Never mind that I didn't grow up visiting winter (frost on the roofs was as close to winter as this California native got). I blame Irving Berlin's White Christmas.
As I toured the Balsam Hill showroom prior to the start of the wreath decorating contest the songs Baby, It's Cold Outside and Let it Snow! kept going through my head. The only thing that would have made their showroom more magical is a few more trees touched with snow. But aside from that it was easy to imagine myself wandering a forest path in Tahoe National Forest.
Images of White Christmas were going through my head as I began scoping out the ornaments, ribbons, and floral picks I wanted to use. (I also scoped out the wreath I wanted to use; selecting the BH Noble Fir Wreath to honor my California heritage) I wanted to avoid anything that screamed Christmas as we're Jewish and celebrate Hanukah instead. Hanukah is typically blue and silver so I gravitated towards silver and red for my color palette.
I initially grabbed a textured silver ribbon that I'd planned to wrap around the wreath. Because the foliage is so realistic, I opted to skip the ribbon and go for a more minimalistic design. I painstakingly secured the floral picks (Snow Berry Floral Picks from the Woodland Accents collection, Winter Frost Floral Picks from the Winter Frost Accents), robins, and glass ornaments (Red and Silver Mercury Glass Ornaments) using floral wire, taking care not to accidentally pierce my fingers. (I chose floral wire over glue because I wanted to be sure the items would be secure no matter the conditions where the wreath was hung. I also wanted the quality of the floral picks, ornaments, and foliage to be the center of attention and not my amateur use of a glue gun.) I was excited to know that my wreath came in second in the contest (you can see a photo of the finished wreath on Balsam Hill's blog).
If you're in need of last minute holiday decorations head online to Balsam Hill. If you're local to the San Francisco Bay Area and are looking for a tree that looks as if you snuck into a forest and cut it yourself, head down to their showroom in Burlingame. They have refurbished trees available for purchase that you can take home with you. These trees look amazing and are available at incredible prices. If we weren't Jewish, we'd seriously have one of their trees up in our flat (their flip tree is pretty amazing).
Credits: All layouts designed by and images taken by Eden Hensley Silverstein for The Road to the Good Life.
DISCLOSURE: For my participation in Balsam Hill's holiday wreath decorating contest, I received the wreath I designed along with a European Blown Mahogany Glass Boat Ornament which was made in Poland.
