DIY a Mini Holiday Dome Display

Since last holiday season, I have been dying to make a holiday dome to use as decoration for the season. Last Christmas, I was shopping in a local boutique and they had the cutest little felt mice under big glass domes. They looked like they were skiing and I wanted to recreate the idea.

I found similar mice on Joss & Main for a good price—a set of two for $9.90. I purchased a few different sets, but had my heart set on using a sledding mouse for my dome. The great thing about this project is that it's so versatile and you can use virtually whatever materials you want. While I found a glass dome with a wooden base at HomeGoods, you could easily use other objects, such as a large glass jar with or without a lid, a mason jar, or a glass cylinder.

As far as the other materials, I used very simple and cheap items. I wanted to stick with the “less is more” idea, and have it look like the mouse was sledding down a snow-covered hill. For that, all I needed was the mouse itself, which actually was designed to be an ornament. Next, I got a bag of the fake snow material and an assortment of little fake trees. I got a small Styrofoam half-globe to use as the “hill,” and gathered my scissors and hot glue gun.

Time: 20 minutes || Cost: $23

Here are the steps I took to complete this project:

Step 1 - Organize the Materials

First, I laid out all of my materials. I discarded the tags and packaging including the ornament string off of the mouse. I turned on the hot glue gun to allow it to heat up.

Step 2 - Attach the Styrofoam to the Base

Once the hot glue gun was ready, I spread some glue on the bottom of the Styrofoam globe and affixed it directly onto the base of the dome. I put mine right in the middle, but you could also put it off-center, too. Also, looking back, I would probably have cut a circular piece of cardboard out and glued the Styrofoam onto there. That way, if I ever want to use the dome for something else, I would have been able to take the mouse display out easily. Also, if you get a dome without a base, you can just use a cardboard bottom and not even worry about not having one!

Step 3 - Attach the Fake Snow

Next, I took the fake snow and spread it around the Styrofoam, using the hot glue to secure it. This was the most time-consuming part, as I wanted to make it somewhat even and ensure that the green of the Styrofoam was not showing through. I recommend using a large piece of snow to cover as much of the globe as possible because it can be tough to glue smaller pieces together seamlessly. I then glued some snow around the globe so that the entire base was covered.

Step 4 - Attach the Mouse

I then glued the mouse on top of the snow-covered hill.

Step 5 - Attach the Trees

I had bought a few little trees to use around the hill. I chose the three small ones and used the hot glue gun to affix them to the edge of the hill.

Step 6 - Place the Dome Over the Base

I then placed the cover of the dome over the mouse. He seemed a little high up in the fixture, so I used the glue to squash down the snow a bit as it was a little puffy. Doing that lowered the mouse.

And that's it! This is an easy craft using simple and inexpensive materials. As I mentioned, you could take any idea, object, or vision and recreate it into this fun decorative piece. Something as small and inexpensive as an ornament or figurine could be the focal piece of your dome. Some fun ideas that I have seen are little gingerbread house ornaments surrounded by snow and trees, snowmen ornaments, or woodland animals with pinecones and snow. I love the idea of animals or snowmen because it makes this a decoration you can leave out all winter long!