Beauty beneath the ice! 16 delightful ways to brighten your winter yard or balcony

You can let you imagination run wild when freezing ice decorations and lanterns. Materials can be almost anything. You can reuse cut flowers that have run their course, such as tulips, in ice decorations. Stones, pine cones, and moss, as well as berries, can be gathered in the fall and frozen when the frosts arrive. Keep in mind that you’ll need the landowner’s permission to collect branches, moss, or soil.

Icy yard decorations—try these supplies:

Icy mini donuts

Adorable lingonberry ice donuts can be made in a mini donut mold. Place lingonberries in the mold and fill with cold water. These mini donuts need a few hours to freeze. Remove from the molds and tie them with a pretty ribbon onto a spruce wreath.

Icy flower art

Using a plastic or metal platter or the base of a cake pan, you can create floral art by freezing. The water and the weight of the flowers will shape your final creation, so be ready to be surprised by the final product. Place fresh or pressed flowers on the platter or the pan, set it outside in the subzero temperature, and fill with water. If you want the ice to freeze clear, use water that has been left to sit. Water straight from the tap contains air bubbles, which will give your art a frosty look. Before freezing, add a loop of string near the edge for hanging. Once it has frozen, carefully remove the piece from the platter. Lighter-weight flowers might move around as it freezes, so be ready for unexpected results. Hang your ice art outside.

A decoration for your outdoor spruce

Arrange cookie cutters in a flat-bottomed container and pour in enough water so that the top edges of the cutters remain just above the surface. Place a hanging cord and any decorations you like inside each cutter. A small sprig of lingonberry or spruce, or a few anise stars from the spice rack, work well. These ornaments don’t take up much space and could be frozen even in a small freezer compartment.

Heathers in a bowl

A whimsical heather bowl takes a bit of extra effort, but the result is stunning. You’ll need heather or other evergreen sprigs along with two freezer-safe bowls in different sizes. Arrange the heather sprigs around the edges of the larger bowl. Place the smaller bowl on top. Pour water into the space between the bowls. Freeze overnight in the freezer or outside for a few hours if it’s very cold. Move the frozen bowl to the sink, run warm water carefully into the smaller bowl and around the outside of the larger bowl so you can easily remove both.

Colorful ice muffins

Give leftover holiday decorations a new life by freezing them in muffin tins. Oven-dried orange slices, lingonberry sprigs, Christmas stars, and decorative berries make adorable ice muffins.

Blooming crystal balls

Create ice-ball flowers using balloons. The simple shape highlights the delicate beauty of ice and blooms. Gently stretch the opening of a balloon and slip in small wax flowers or rolled-up flower petals. Fill the balloon with water and tie it in a knot. Put the balloons outside to freeze. They’ll keep a round shape if you nestle them in soft, powdery snow. Once they’re frozen, break and remove the balloon from around the ice.

Frosty ice cake

Place cinnamon sticks and pine cones in a cake pan filled with water. Decorate the surface with dried hydrangea blooms and eucalyptus branches. Let it freeze overnight. Let the ice cake sit at room temperature briefly and remove it from the pan. Keep in mind that the cinnamon sticks and cones will tint the water.

Frozen tulips

A tulip makes a stunning addition to an ice lantern. Place the flower upside down in a bucket, securing it to the side with a clothespin. Fill the bucket carefully, little by little, with water. Gently swirl away any air bubbles.

An icy floral medallion

You can use snapped or past-their-prime cut flowers for ice decorations. Create a jewel-like piece by arranging succulents, flowers, and heather sprigs in an oval baking dish. Pour in water and freeze.

A frosty carnation bouquet

A selection of varyingly colored cut flowers makes a beautiful outdoor ornament. Arrange carnations or other flowers (with the stems trimmed off) in a freezer-safe container. Pour in water so that the blooms aren’t fully submerged but stay on the surface. Let it freeze.

Icy flower pastries

Buy a few cut flowers or freeze blooms from a wilting bouquet to create these icy flower pastries. You’ll need a few small pastry or muffin cups, flowers, string, and water. Place the flowers in the bottom of the cups, add water, and place a piece of string in the corner for a hanging loop. The flower pastries will freeze in a few hours.

Hanging medallions

Gather skimmia, decorative berries, spruce sprigs, and lingonberry sprigs together in a bunch. Tie them together with string and place them in baking cups so the ends of the string hang well outside the cups. Fill with water. Any branches that stick out above the water will create a three-dimensional effect. Freeze overnight. Hang the ice medallions on your door or from a tree branch in your yard.

Flowers and branches

You can create eye-catching decorations by pairing flowers with materials found in nature, such as branches, cones, or even moss.

Give your bouquet a second life

For a large ice lantern, use a 1.75-liter milk carton. Submerge a spent bouquet in the carton and fill it completely with cold water. Freeze, then peel off the carton and tie a lovely ribbon around it.

Lanterns adorned with branches

Decorate the ice lantern with larch branches. Simple yet gorgeous!

Alder branches also make a beautiful lantern. Try different freezing times. A thin layer of ice looks clear and lovely, but it can crack easily. Once your lantern has frozen sufficiently, let it melt off the sides of the bucket, make a hole in the bottom, and gently pour out any extra water.

Colored ice lantern

You can color your ice decorations with berries or juice. Pomegranate seeds create crisp patterns since they don’t release much juice.