A Hazy Shade of Winter

Ah, January. I hold such conflicted feelings for you. On the one hand, I'm so happy to be done with the excess of the holidays and back into a normal schedule, but on the other it does tend to leave such a drab feeling to the month when all of the warmth of Christmas is gone and the weather is gloomy. Since the sun sets at 4:30 in the winters of the Pacific Northwest, I like to leave my white twinkle lights up for the month of January (and sometimes even into February). They somehow make my home feel warmer.

I was also on the lookout this year for some "winter" type decor that was not necessarily Christmas. I have traditionally decorated with snowmen in January and kept to blues, so I found and am surrounding myself with the following in keeping with that theme:

My mom brought these to me last month, knowing that I love my blue January decor. My aunt made them out of wood blocks, scrapbook paper & vinyl (and a few other elements). They have been a cheery little addition to the mantel after the Christmas decor made an exit and left it looking naked!

I also got these blue & silver ornaments on clearance at Target and snuck a few up on my mantel as well, next to...

my candlesticks now topped with clearanced-out glitter pinecones scored at Craft Warehouse.

I got this lantern over the summer with a Pottery Barn gift card and while it graced the patio then, I decided to give it a home indoors next to the fireplace for winter. I've filled it with more of the same ornaments & glittered pinecones.

My three frames above the kitchen cabinets have also had a makeover from the Christmas red & green to blue & white! I'm so grateful for cute, seasonal scrapbook paper. You can't tell from the picture, but the white one has raised, white velvet dots all over it that remind me of snowballs. Which is nice, since we have not seen much snow this year!