I used it to showcase this fireplace which displays several Christmas stockings. Somehow I have never gotten around to changing to a nicer fireplace, although I do have one. Oops! That's my orange t-shirt reflecting in the mirror!
The lycopodium swag was originally designed for a Christmas setting in my McKinley house. I just stuck it on this fireplace once and it's been there ever since.

The little Madonna is made from findings, beads, a sequin halo and a strip of silver metallic ribbon. I made her after seeing a similar figure in an old NAME Gazette.
The candle in the red lantern is a real party candle cut to size. I used dried greenery and tiny red beads as accents. The candlesticks are Chrysnbon.

Since I only intended to use this fireplace temporarily, I didn't go to much trouble with it. That gold piece across the front is cut from a Christmas card. When I looked at the first picture, however, I realized it looked too plain, so I added these old fashioned Santas to suggest andirons.

The stockings include gifts from former club members, Lou Songer, who made the net stocking filled with candy, and Josefina Allen, who stitched the red and green one on the far right. The others were made by stretching knit fabric over a cardboard shaper and gluing to the back. The red heels and toe on the grey stocking are painted. The red stripes were painted on with a fine point marker.
The fire is pictures cut from a magazine and layered.

The table is a Bespaq piece that I put in layaway at Karen Stull's miniature shop and paid for monthly. There is quite ornate carving underneath its round edges. It certainly is a bit higher class than that fireplace! But what the heck, it fit nicely in the dome and allowed me to get both chairs in.

The process for making these chairs is in the Tutorials:Reworking Inexpensive Furniture

Here is a back view of one of the chairs. The white poinsettia was made by my friend Sandi Gravelle. The foil around the pot is the wrapper from a holiday Hershey's kiss. Here's also a better view of that red net stocking made by Lou Songer, one of my favorite gifts.

The arrangement on the table is made with red silk roses, lycopodium sprigs, tiny dried red flowers and white artificial flower clusters. The glass globe encloses a red candle, and the canes are Fimo. The container is a brass jewelry finding with its points pulled down to form legs.

On the other side of the dome is these packages waiting to be mailed. I made the basket from needlepoint fabric stretched over a form and added the trims.

This year - 2010 - the fireplace is back in one of my curio cabinets.

Like so many of my miscellaneous Christmas pieces, it travels from one season to the next. Looks like Mother's Christmas tree traveled along with it!
(Pictures are hard to take because of mirrored back and glass shelves of this display cabinet.)
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