Thursday, January 08, 2009

Dark and cozy days of winter!

Ah! The dark and cozy days of winter are here! When the holidays are over the peace of January comes and our homes are quiet after all the bustle of December. But what do you do to brighten the dark days and give a cozy glow after you remove the Christmas decorations?


A winter tree of course! A small tree that says we celebrate winter. This is my tree in our living room. It is filled with ornaments that I made myself...

...ice skates...

...warm woolen scarfs...

...and cozy mittens. I hope to make some button icicles this year too but am not sure I will have enough time before the end of January. The tree will be changed then.

A pinkeep on a stand by my tree. I made this back in 2006.

A snowman and a pair of old ice skates, what says winter more?

"The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued."

~ Robert Frost


23 comments:

Tardevil said...

Love it!

Susan in SC said...

What a pretty tree!

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Lovely - simply lovely.

mainely stitching said...

Wonderful! :D

Suzann said...

Heidi,
It's beautiful.

Nan said...

I wish some magazine would publish photos of your decorating, Heidi. It is just wonderful - homey, heartfelt, and beautiful. I'm just happy so many read your blog and can be inspired this way.

Karen said...

Absolutely sweet - just like you.

Hugs - Karen

Happy@Home said...

What a darling idea to brighten up a dark day and make the house look so cozy. Your ornaments are so cute and so is the cross stitched snowman. Nice job.

Have a great weekend,
Kim

Pondside said...

What a lovely idea - and what a pretty tree!

Tone said...

Oh how I adored the ice skate...!!!
You are so incredibly creative!!
Love from Tone

Anonymous said...

Hello Heidi,

Your tree is stunning! What a delightful way to bring some light to the dark days of winter.

Happy New Year!

Marie x

Barbara said...

Heidi, I love your tree and your handmade decorations. Maybe someday I will have one of my own!

Hugs,
Barbara

Rhondi said...

Hi Heidi
I love your winter tree. What a lovely way to brighten up the grey days of winter!
hope you have good weekend.
Hugs, Rhondi

Ginny said...

What a great way to ward off some of winter's gloom.

Tone said...

hi my friend!
How is life - and your tooth...?
Here its freezy lovely white winterweather, but still no snow.
Our puppy has a lot of fun in the garden - and I pretend having a lot of fun drying up after his "accidents"....

have a nice evening!!
tone

Maggie said...

I love your winter tree! In our sitting room by the fireplace i have a tall vase with twigs and lights on it, that staves off the winter blues a little. I bought it one christmas saying that we wern't having a tree but these 'sticks' instead, needless to say that i relented in the end and put up a tree but the 'stick with lights' have remained with us all year.

In answer to your question about my cats, we do not have a Mandy, i would have liked another but as Millie is so shy i thought 2 kittens together would overwhelm her, they were named after the books as you rightly guessed! i loved those books when i was young and still have 2 of them, my youngest used to love the stories at bedtime.

Maggie x

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

A perfectly warm idea!
For myself, I always fill the house with white flowers the week after the new year. It seems to clear my mind after all the rich colours of Christmas. Or, maybe I'm just hoping for snow!

Mary said...

Lovely Winter tree - your handiwork makes it extra special and it will light up those dark, cold nights.

Took down my gazebo tree today, and other outdoor lights - bit late but had been waiting for a warmer day! Reached 68 so alsi did a bit of much needed garden tidying up.

Hope your dental work is going OK - and that they were nice at the hospital!

Enjoy the weekend.
Hugs - Mary.

RoyalTLady said...

Amazing ideas!

I missed winter so much...funny? Yes, I am from a warm climate country...I missed the English winter and German winter... used to live there many years ago...

You are very creative.

Roberta said...

Hi Heidi, just love the frost on the pumpkins.

Your winter tree looks so warm and cozy.

Happy Weekend --- Roberta

Anonymous said...

Hoi Heidie,
What a lovely idea with the "winter-tree" and i love the things you made ourself.Especially the skates !!! Though there is a weather-change rightnow it is still very cold, i think. On thursday Sanne will do her presentations for English literature :) It's about the women in English literature in the 18th/19th century. We printed ink drawings of victorian houses and glued them on "karton" and made a street in this way. A few houses you can open up and then the portrait of a writer like Jane Austen appears :)) I think she is really excited about it !
Greetings, Janneke.
I know not a nice subject...but do you already have a new appointment in the hospital ??

Kim @ Home Is Where The Heart Is said...

Your tree is so very pretty, Heidi!
Love it.

I pray that all goes well with your tooth...you poor girl! {{{Hugs}}}

Nancy said...

Very Very Very cute.
Love Mom