If you live in a cold winter climate, these easy and pretty ice lanterns will look gorgeous on your door steps. If you live in a warm climate like I do, don’t let that be a reason to stop you from experiencing the fun and magic, however long it lasts!
This DIY is so easy and so much fun, perfect way to create a little winter wonderland!
First step, gather some botanical treasures from where you live, try and find different foliage textures, sizes and colorful berries.
Next, find some plastic containers of different sizes in diameter so one can fit inside another, such as tin cans, yogurt containers, shampoo bottles…
You will see that I used glass for some of them. My hubby made a great suggestion later that plastic would be better since glass can break easily in the freezing process. See, I love starting things out the hard way! =) Also make sure the smaller container is still wide enough for an LED tealight!
Place the smaller container inside the bigger one, I had a 0.5″ to 1″ space all around. Place some pebbles or coins to weight down the inside container. Make pretty compositions with your botanical clippings, and pour water into the space between the 2 containers.
An improvement: use tin cans like below, they won’t break! 🙂
Put them in the freezer for a few hours untill they are frozen. To pop them out, place the in a container of room temp water, and also pour room temp water into the inside container, After a couple of minutes, they will come out nicely.
Place 1 or 2 LED tea lights (or large LED candle if you made a big one!) inside each luminary and see how beautifully they light up!
Tip: although these ice luminaries are hollow on the bottom, if you are concerned about the LED light getting wet, place a pebble below the light so water would drain away!
Arrange them in the snow or on your windowsill outside, you shall be Santa’s first stop!
Love luminaries ideas for the holidays? Check out these simple ones made from paper!
Dimensional flower luminaries with colored glow- 
Enchanting little houses great for a mantle or as Chriatmas tree ornaments! – 
Lani @ Life Anchored
So beautiful!! Great concept.
Patrizia
Mi chiamo Patrizia, per la prima volta arrivo ora in questo blog stupendo, e dal meraviglioso nome che fa sognare!!! COMPLIMENTI!!! Tantissime idee entusiasmanti! Adoro tutto davvero, e poichè abito in montagna, l’idea mi piace moltissimo presto la realizzerò , la spiegazione chiara e dettagliata su come farle e’ molto utile e ben fatta! GRAZIE INFINITE PER LA CONDIVISIONE!!!!!!! Un caro saluto e auguri di buon anno di vero cuore da Patrizia from Italy.
ananda
thank you patrizia! a beautiful 2016 to you! =)
Angela
I love this idea SO much and am really sad that I live in a warm to hot climate (Brisbane, Australia). This wouldn’t last very long at all here even in winter (the winter just gone had a lowest temperature of maybe 16°C – 60°F). These are just sooo pretty and a fabulous idea though!! I guess I’ll just have to be happy with the Mason Jar oil candles, which are also really pretty. Thanks for these amazing ideas!!
ananda
hi angela! same here in california 🙂 just have to make them when you travel to a colder place then! 🙂