It’s become a tradition that each year the Fir Lady visits us, and this weekend she rose up from the forest floor one night, a tangle of roots and vines becoming a magnificent woman by sunrise. A flurry of woodland animals gathered to help her, clambering onto the toadstools that grew around her skirts and bringing ladders and pulleys to adorn her with golden acorns;

For some (even a  forest has introverts), it was easier just to clamber safely out of the fray and enjoy watching the festive preparations with a book.

Every forest has its leaders, and it seems the foxes were the self-appointed project-managers, cheerfully directing operations whilst everyone else cheerfully ignored them;

Teamwork is everything.

 

To make the Fir Lady this year…

I used the mannequin I prepared last year, and in a bid to spend less and think of the environment I sourced the greenery for her skirts from our garden (we’re lucky to have a legion of fir trees!)

• The mice and other woodland animals are all tree decorations; I bought mine in the post-Christmas sales last year, but you can find them in many UK stores and garden centres this year too.  Online, OKA, White Stuff and Cox and Cox have a range in stock.
• The toadstools were inexpensive wooden craft shapes I painted.  Mine were from a local garden centre (or try Hobbycraft in the UK, or Michaels in the US); I gave them a basic wash of off-white and then painted the hoods in a khaki shade before dry brushing the same colour over the stems.  I rolled tiny balls of white clay for the polka dots on top.
• The gilded acorns the mice are carrying are from a wired wreath pick; I unravelled them and trimmed the wires so the mice could carry them easily (and they wrap well around a fir sprig!)
• The ladders were made by snipping up fallen twigs and hot glueing them together
• And because I’m often asked… my backdrop is the ‘chalkboard’ backdrop from here – and I’ve used a sheer length of cloth on the floor for these pics too.

Have a great week, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing!