DIY Christmas movie snow globes

This isn't so much a DIY as it is an idea for a Christmas decoration, but I'm so happy with how these came out that I had to share in case anyone else wanted to do it, too!

Aside from my mom's cookies, I think my favorite part of the holiday season is the movies. There's nothing quite as comforting and festive to me as snuggling in bed with Arrietty, hot chocolate, and one of my favorite Christmas films. And since I love incorporating my love of movies into my decor, I thought it would be fun to do that with my Christmas decorations, too!



I got my snow globe picture frames from Urban Outfitters. They don't have the rose gold color anymore, but they still have this shape/size in clear here. They also have some pretty instax-sized ones in other colors here.

All I did was find scenes from two of my favorite Christmas movies, print them on photo paper, and then cut them to size. The frames come with templates so you can cut your photo to fit perfectly in the snow globe. Just make sure that the photo you find will fit inside of a vertical frame. A lot of movie stills are horizontal, since movies are shot in that orientation, but it's pretty easy to crop a picture to be just right.



I chose stills from the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol (the best, in my opinion) and the Barbara Stanwyck movie Christmas in Connecticut. If you haven't seen either one yet, definitely try to give them a watch this holiday season. Just make sure you have some hot cocoa and warm blankets handy! ;)

Silents & Talkies - Banjo On My Knee (1936)

Banjo on my Knee is the story of a "land girl" played by Barbara Stanwyck who marries into a family of river dwellers. On her wedding night, some guy gets fresh with Stany, and her new groom, played by Joel McCrea, pushes the man overboard. When he doesn't immediately resurface, everyone assumes he's dead and Joel decides he has to go on the lamb and leave his new bride at home.

The cast is jam-packed with my favorite stars. Barbara Stanwyck is amazing as the lonely out-of-place newlywed, and her understated performance is spectacular as usual. Walter Brennan plays her father-in-law, a super sweet lovable old guy who plays folksy favorites on his "contraption," an instrument made out of old bottles and do-dads. And then there's Buddy Ebsen tap-dancing and singing along to the music. Oh, and singer Tony Martin makes an appearance as a restaurant entertainer, appearing in the credits as "Anthony Martin."

They all make up for Joel McCrea. Oh, Joel. He's one of my favorite actors, but by golly do I despise him in this movie!!! He's such a hot-headed mess; insanely jealous and abusive. I've seen this movie a dozen times, and each time I hate his character even more. The worst part is that I don't think you're supposed to hate him! The movie is definitely structured to make you root for Stany & Joel getting together in the end, but I guess my modern mind makes me wish she could escape the inevitable abusive relationship she's getting herself into.

The absolute *best* part of this movie, hands down, is the music. It's not quite a musical, more like a drama with some musical numbers thrown in (and they all seem to fit, not like people just randomly burst out into song in mid-sentence.) And Barbara Stanwyck did her own singing! I wish she did this more often, because she had such a unique, beautiful voice. I uploaded one of the musical numbers to my old site a while back, if you want to have a listen! :)

Watch it: Netflix // Youtube

ode to stany

Barbara Stanwyck --Stany-- is my all-time favorite actress. I love all of her films, but especially her early 1930's roles when she was just overflowing with emotion and energy, and her late 30's/early 40's masterpieces like Meet John Doe, Christmas in Connecticut, The Lady Eve and My Reputation. She was completely natural, and yet slides so easily into different characters that you forget that she's playing a part. She was a favorite among directors for delivering practically perfect scenes in the first take, and for always being prompt and totally up to speed on her lines. She was skilled, but made it seem spontaneous -- able to drop a tear on cue, jump and slide into a perfect split or perfect the art of flapjack flipping on camera. You may not call her your number one favorite, as I do, but there's no denying the girl had talent.

So here's my tribute to my favorite actress, set to Goldfrapp's tune "Happiness."