Showing posts with label Bottlebrush Trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bottlebrush Trees. Show all posts

Monday, December 16, 2013

Vintage Winter Wonderland Mantle

Vintage Christmas Mantle 2013

Are you a traditionalist who uses the same decorations each year no matter what, or are you someone who has to have a new look every year? Or, are you like me… a combination of both?

Thought I’d share this year’s mantle which is a combination of new additions and repurposed pieces from prior years.

VIntage Repurposed Christmas Jar

New to the mantle this year are my Vintage Christmas Vignette in a Jar and Bleached Bottlebrush Trees.  I decided I wanted a “Winter Wonderland” theme this year so chose metallics and white as my color scheme.

Ornament Display

Since I do like to change things up I try to keep it budget friendly so after Christmas shopping is a staple. I picked up these glittered sleigh ornaments last year for 50% off at Macy’s and then filled them with small gold ornaments ( also a post-Christmas find). Topped with a metal snowflake ornament.



Vintage Christmas Mantle Silver

I made the silver tinsel trees a couple of years ago with supplies from Dollar Tree. To change them up I swapped out the previously red pom poms in the middle of the snowflake toppers with gold. A silver mercury glass tree topper rests in a stemmed votive holder…more after Christmas deals from prior years.

Vintage Mantle 2013

A DIY hurricane vase ( $1 candlestick glued to $1 vase…thank you Dollar Tree) is filled with silver and gold balls and some epsom salt snow.  I collect Marc Roberts faeries and this one matched my mantle so he sits atop another stemmed votive. To complete my mantle, I added metallic silver and gold glittered tulle.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Winter Wonderland Repurposed Storage Jar

Christmas Jar 3

We visited our favorite little antique town this weekend and while there, I picked up a clear glass storage jar. Maybe it was seeing all of the vintage Christmas displays in the stores but I immediately had an idea mind for my jar which also provided another chance for me to bleach  more bottlebrush trees. You can check out this post for more on the trees.

Christmas Repurposed Jar

For this project you will need:
  • Large glass storage jar with removable lid
  • Bleached bottlebrush tree
  • Epsom Salt
  • Jingle Bells (large and small)
  • Snowflake pick
  • Wood Word or letters
After cleaning up your jar, glue the bleached tree to the bottom.

Christmas Repurposed Jar 2

I put a big glob of hot glue on the bottom of the tree since I wanted it to stand firmly in the jar. Once the tree’s glued in, pour in some of the epsom salt and then drop in a few of the jingle bells, add more salt. When satisfied with the depth, place the snowflake pick and phrase inside the jar. I sprinkled some iridescent glitter on top.

Christmas Repurposed Jar 1


Christmast Repurposed Jar 4

Cover the rim of the jar with a coordinating washi tape, twine, and ribbon, and then tie a few jingle bells to the ends.

VIntage Repurposed Christmas Jar

It’s sitting on my Winter Wonderland vintage mantle with my other bleached trees.


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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Bleached Bottlebrush Trees

Botttlebrush Trees

I love the look of vintage holiday decorations and have long wanted some vintage bottlebrush trees. I’m automatically drawn to displays of them in stores. I am not always drawn to their price so once again, I decided I could make my own.  SO easy. Another why didn’t I do this before project.

You will need:
  • Bottlebrush trees. Can be found at hobby and craft stores or where Christmas villages etc are sold. I bought a big bag at JoAnn’s last year for 75% off after Christmas knowing that I wanted to make some this season.
  • Household bleach.
  • Water
  • Container
  • Time
  • Spray adhesive
  • Glitter
I googled around for some hints on how to bleach the trees. All of the instructions were similar: mix equal parts bleach and water in a container; submerge trees, wait. Time is the tricky part and my conclusion is you just have to keep an eye on your trees vs an absolute amount of time. One tree took 15 min. Another the same size took 30. Just bleach until they’re the color you want. I wanted natural but may do some more and stop at pale green. I've seen tutorials where people have dyed them all kinds of colors or used spray inks etc.

Bleached Bottlebrush Trees
Mr. Chocolate only looked at a little oddly when I told him I was bleaching trees. He just doesn’t ask anymore. What’s weird is the color bleaches out but the flocking stays on the trees.
Glittered Bleached Bottlebrush Tree

While the trees were drying from their bleach bath ( rinse with plain water once you get the color you want), I made their bases by wrapping some wood spools with washi tape.

Washi Spools

When the trees were dry, I used a spray adhesive (Elmers) and silver and iridescent glitter. Spray, sprinkle, turn, repeat.  Then hot glued them to my spools.

Natural Bottlebrush Trees


Bleached Bottlebrush Tree Closeup

They’ll likely end up on my mantle but since I’m a diehard about not decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving , I haven’t totally decided yet.

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