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When autumn begins, I can already feel the first hints of winter’s chill fly in the air, and the scent of fresh pine mingled with the earthy aroma of dried oranges and cinnamon reach my senses, even though they are not there yet. Just as a cozy memory invitation from nature that reminds me how much I can easily find joy in the small, organic details of life and love the warmth and coziness of the holidays.
There’s nothing like the magic of the Christmas tree tradition when this time of year comes around. Still, there is magic in the individualization we have conquered in the contemporary world as well—the ability to merge tradition with our deepest soul desires and personal stories.
So, in this post, I will guide you toward making a traditional Christmas tree with a hint of magic evoked by the charming woodland cottagecore aesthetic!
A Cottagecore Tree Mood: An Invitation to Nature
From a rural artist’s soul to a woodland fae spirit, or maybe an old herbalist. If you cherish nature and the whimsical, vintage woodland magic of the connection with the earth, especially the woods that symbolize winter wonderland magic, this is the tree for you. It will certainly evoke a peaceful sense of joy for you and your guests, and an unexpected extra aura of coziness to the room, that will be felt as a delightful surprise, besides what you are used to.
Get in the mood: On Christmas eve, sit by your cottagecore tree, feeling the fire crackle softly and sipping on warm mulled cider. Let the gentle, flickering light of beeswax candle with woody aromas warm up your gathering, while you allow yourself to feel the nostalgia of the past with your family.
Recreating the Magic
It’s time to make your own Cottagecore Christmas tree. To help you in this task, I curated the most aesthetic Cottagecore Christmas ornaments and asked AI to visualize some combinations of these ornaments in a Christmas tree.
Generative AI Disclosure: Some images in this post were conjured with the help of AI. I believe in the best of both worlds. Generative images allow me to visualize new creative concepts based on real products that will match perfectly with the theme of my posts. Something very useful that would not be possible without this Technology. Every detail has been carefully curated to capture the proper lighting, moods, textures, and fabrics of a Cottagecore Christmas and keep it authentic and aligned to the storytelling. My goal is to give an exclusive and visually engaging experience.
Aesthetic basics:
- Stick to a color palette of warm, earthy tones (forest greens, browns, deep reds) to enhance the feeling of connection to the woods.
- Use natural materials, like wooden ornaments, felt, fruit garlands, and dried flowers that you can DIY or buy.
- Evoke the whimsical charm with candlelight from faux candles instead of bright lights.
Start with a trendy and minimalist option of moody balls in earthy tones and classic fairy lights.
Conjure this enchantment into reality:
Flocked Baubles
Fireside Holiday Solid Ornaments
For an extra cuteness touch, velvet vintage ribbons are a lovely enhancement. There are many different ways to style a tree with velvet ribbons.
A subtle, almost hidden ribbon around the tree.
For an old-fashioned vintage luxury, a bigger ribbon. The charming balls with velvet and muted texture can be mixed with traditional golden ones. Keep the earthy palette of red and green to keep the cottagecore vibe.
Or cute, classy dark red velvety bows.
A more creative approach: make them green!
Or replace the average christmas tree topping with a big, nostalgic and ultra feminine velvet ribbon-bow.
Enrich the Luxury Whimsy glimmer with dainty golden strings.
Conjure this enchantment into reality
Gold Garland
Wood Beaded Garland
Put matching christmas gift wraps with a moody, folk, earthy, and wood-inspired pattern & palette to complete the experience.
Conjure this enchantment into reality
Foragers Gift Wrap
Vintage Wrapping Paper
There is a more neutral and natural aspect of the cottagecore aesthetic, and for these ideas, we forget the velvet textures and focus on browns, beiges and nature elements, like dried oranges and natural pines.
Woodland critters are a strong symbol of the cottagecore aesthetic complements perfectly this imertion into the woods vibe.
Conjure this enchantment into reality
Dried & Boxed Orange Slices
Old fashioned whimsical cottagecore. This one is the Winter Fairytale-inspired option and is all about creative ways to use pine cones and berries in your tree and add some vintage folkloric-European details, like the striped rug and vintage lamp below.
This is how I imagine Snow White would decorate her Home in the woods!
Stick fake berry stems among the tree branches to reproduce the woodlands inside the house.
If you are lucky enough to live near the woods, pick some natural branches and and stylize them in your tree!
Conjure this enchantment into reality
Joyful Berry Stem
Some incredibly talented storytellers from Instagram also crafted stunning cottagecore trees that can be inspiring. Below I feature my favorites:
@julia.hollene and @daryadarcy perfectly enhanced the cozyness with fake candles light.
