Friday

Deck the Halls vintage style - {Tutorial}

12.8.11- 
  I've been feeling really crafty lately! 
{that may sound weird for some of you to hear me say... yeah, right you're probably thinking.... }
But really I don't "craft" that much other than H&H stuff so I've been really having some fun lately. 

I wanted to show you one thing I was creating today. 
{I'll be back to show more- don't worry!} 

 I've been making some of my favorite Holiday things to have around the house & decorate with- bottle brush trees. I get asked alot where I have found so many 
{I have quite a collection of them & have paid a pretty price for many too, trust me!} 

I have always wished to find some a bit cheaper, that are cute & not the standard forest green dark look. Well... thanks to Pinterest & a link from what seems like the early 80's I learned a fun technique on how to make vintage looking bottle brush trees. All you need is a few household items to turn little trees into charming little trees. 

1- Bleach 
2- An old glass bottle or container 
3- Paper towels 
4- some cold water {how easy is that?} 
5- Glitter {if you have Glass Glitter even better!} 
6- Modge Podge 
7- Sponge Brush 
8- a few minutes to spare! 
{really.. this takes no time at all!} 

The clump of forest green little trees just waiting to be transformed right before your eyes.  
{By the way all the bottle brush trees in the Christmas sections all seemed to be sold out so I found these back in the doll house section at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 a pack}

{On a side note} 
Really... some Christmas stuff is sold out already- Hello!  It's only Dec. 8th quit putting out Christmas decor in July - augh... that's one of my pet peeves!! 
Moving on... sorry! :) 

 Submerge each bottle brush tree into the bleach & make sure it is completely covered.  
{you'll also want something to hold onto them with so you don't have to use your hands}
Don't walk away at this point unless you want your tree completely white 
{that's what happened to the one tree below}  
I thought it would take 5 minutes or so & I walked away but really it takes only seconds for it to start changing.  Watch it close & when it is the color you desire take it out & plunge it  into cold water to rinse.  Let it dry on a paper towel. 

-Yeah- a cute multicolored forest to look at. So much prettier don't you think?- 
 Next step once your trees have dried is to glitter them 
{if you would like but you don't have to}
  I just did a few of my new trees.  I used official Glass Glitter because it will tarnish over time & I want that look but you can use regular glitter too. 
Just put some Modge Podge on a sponge brush & brush over the little tree.  I found it worked best to dump a bit of glitter out onto a paper towel 
{you want to be able to save the glitter that doesn't stick & put it back into your container} 
& just roll the tree around in the glitter. More seemed to stay on that way.   

-Before- 

 -After- 

Really- so easy to do! 
 Now comes the fun part to embellish & display
{always my favorite thing to do!} 
I love to collect bottle caps, I use them for all sorts of things for H&H & I thought they would make a great little stand for some of the tiny trees. 
 So I punched {with a circle punch} some colorful patterened paper & glued them to the inside of the bottle cap. 
 And then just placed the tree into it's new {perfect sized} tree stand. So cute I think!  I can't wait to show you what I am doing with these this week- I have a shin-dig coming up & these will be the perfect little topper for something special! 

Once you have all your trees- bleached, washed, dried, glittered & accessorized it's ready to display.  I filled up some glass containers & set them out on my kitchen island.  
{It's always one of my favorite places to decorate} 
I just placed 2 or 3 trees onto a pile of faux snow & glittered snowballs in each container creating a wintry scene.  
So festive!   
 -2 delightful little Wintry Wonderlands!- 

**One of my favorite things to use as faux SNoW in displays that doesn't really cost much 
{& that you probably already have around the house} 
is Sugar, Flour, Rock Salt or Sugar Cubes.  
Pretty white stuff that doesn't cost very much- try it! 

Happy Creating! 
{Yeah- for me I actually was inspired & made something I saw on Pinterest & just didn't "Pin" it & walk away} 
Hallelujah!
Be back to share more later. 
Have a great weekend.  

{M}

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So cute and creative it turned out cute. I was looking at your pinterest and saw that you pinned a peace wreath. I have a wreath if you want it Since you are feeling creative and i'm not. Otherwise I was just going to throw it out. I will bring it Tuesday if you want it.
Angela

christawag said...

love,love,love this idea...thanks for sharing.

Nicole Garner McConkie said...

So Super cute! I always love coming over to your house during the holidays to see all your fun vintage looking things.

Honeybee said...

Thanks friends! Nicole, it's always fun to come to your house to & see your decor- you always inspire me! Angela & Christa I'm sure your homes are darling decked out for the Holidays too.