If you have been following this blog for a while, you'll already know that my Oma (grandmother) was from Austria. So for this Christmas, I decided to make my mom an early gift that embodies my Oma's love for Stille Nacht (Silent Night), her favorite carol.

I was inspired by the cathedral windows from Tim Holtz and wanted to make a vignette that captured the feeling of the Stille Nacht Chapel on a wintry Christmas Eve in Austria. It is an unassuming chapel dedicated to the carol written and performed for the first time in Oberndorf, Austria on December 24, 1818. Though the chapel itself is small, when covered in snow and with the surrounding trees lit up for Christmas, it is like an alpine dream.

photo courtesy of The Telegraph.

With only a couple of stained glass windows and only a few rows of pews, this simple chapel harkens to the simplicity of the first performance of Stille Nacht. It was originally performed on guitar with voice as the organ was broken. The lullaby melody and hopeful words in the 6 German verses made the carol an instant classic in war-torn Europe.

photo courtesy of StilleNacht.Info

The original Oberndorf church that Stille Nacht was performed in that first time was later damaged due to flooding and was not repaired. Instead, this small chapel was built elsewhere in the town to commemorate the world's favorite Christmas Carol. And each Christmas Eve, people from around the world gather outside the chapel to sing Stille Nacht in their native tongue. This event is broadcast live on the Chapel's webcam.


Since this chapel and the original performance of the song were simple, I wanted to keep the vignette simple as well. I began by tracing out the shape of the cathedral windows on acetate then added a variety of alcohol inks to create the look of stained glass. I also cut out the shape of the cathedral windows on metallic kraft cardstock to cover where I would be gluing the acetate to the chipboard.


While the alcohol ink dried, I worked on other elements of the project. I painted the top of the vignette tray with a light wash of white paint and then cut strips of paper from Tim Holtz's 2019 Christmas paper stash then glued them to the sides of the vignette tray using a soft gloss gel. I also colored some deer with Distress Crayon and a water brush pen, adding some white dots to the fawn with paint and grit paste and mica to the antlers of the stag.


I also used the Alpine die to cut out mountains and a few trees for the background, adding Distress Ink to add dimension. I backed all of the mountain pieces with with white cardstock, added a hilly snowdrift in front and back of the mountains and created an L fold to glue the mountains down on to the top of the vignette tray.


I also painted the cathedral windows with white paint. And just in case my cuts made of metallic kraft cardstock were a bit off, I added some matching metallic wax to the edges of one side of the windows.


I used Distress Ink Spray to tint a woodland tree green. Once dry, I added distress grit paste and mica flakes for the look of snow. I also used a Distress Crayon to add white a token with the first bit of Stille Nacht stamped on it, buffing away the excess. I also added a little bit of metallic thread in a bow to the token.


After the alcohol ink dried, I glued the acetate to the back of the cathedral windows using the Zig Two-Way glue pen to avoid "squish out" and did the same for the metallic kraft cardstock. I added grit paste "snow" drifts to some the crevices of the window fronts then added mica flakes before the paste dried.


I did a dry fit of the windows on the vignette tray to determine the placement of the hole I needed to drill for the tiny lights to be threaded through. This would allow me to hide the battery pack on the bottom of the the vignette tray. I used my micro Dremel to drill a hole just wide enough to thread the tiny lights through then attached some foundations feet to the corners of the vignette tray using heavy body gel and hot glue.


Next I began gluing on all of my elements. I started with the mountains, using heavy body gel and hot glue to adhere it, but in hindsight, I should have saved that element for last to give me more room to work with the tiny lights. Next I glued down the cathedral windows with a combination of super glue and hot glue. I find that hot glue helps hold things in place for me while the more heavy duty glue has a chance to cure. I added more grit past to the bottom front of the cathedral windows for snow drifts and to provide extra adhesive.


Before gluing down the woodland tree, I cut off the base for a more realistic look and created a small divot in the tray to help hold the wire of the tree base. I used a combination of super glue and hot glue to adhere it in place.


Next I began to glue the tiny lights around the cathedral windows. I used hot glue for this, knowing that I would go back in with grit paste at the end to add snow to the tops of the windows, adding extra adhesive to some of the tiny lights. I finished up by using what was left of the tiny lights around the woodland tree, then added some metallic droplets and mirrored stars to the tree.


Next I added a metal gate, again using super glue and hot glue. Finally, I went in with lots of grit paste, adding it to the tops of the cathedral windows and to hide the hole where the lights were coming from, around the tree and about and on the gate. I placed the deer in the snow drift by the tree and added some baubles, using Glossy Accents as an additional adhesive on the back legs of the deer where there wasn't much grit paste. All the while, I added a generous dusting of mica to the grit paste, working in sections so the paste wouldn't dry before adding the mica.


To finish it off, I added a line of foam mounting squares to the back of the token, reinforcing it with hot glue then glued it to the edge of one of the cathedral windows. And that's it! A simple, but beautiful snowy scene, all lit up to honor my Oma and her love of Stille Nacht.


Products Used
Tim Holtz: Idea∙ology: vignette tray, woodlands tree lot, metallic droplets, foundations, mirrored stars, quote tokens Christmas, metal gate, tiny lights, baubles, decorative deers, paper stash Christmas, kraft cardstock classic, metallic kraft cardstock; Etcetera - cathedral windows; Alterations - alpine; Distress Crayons - picket fence, vintage photo; Distress Ink - pumice stone, hickory smoke; Distress Stain - cracked pistachio; Distress - grit paste, mica flakes | Dina Wakley: Media - white gesso | Ranger: Glossy Accents; Alcohol Ink - watermelon, mountain rose, butterscotch, citrus, sail boat blue, wild plum | Prima: Art Basics - heavy body gel, soft gloss gel; Art Alchemy Impasto - snow white; Art Alchemy Wax - old silver | Bazzill: Specialty - plastic paper (acetate) | WeR: Stitch Happy - silver thread | Recollections: Cardstock - white | Other: foam mounting squares, hot glue, super glue

Happy Crafting!
Adrienne