Friday, December 2, 2011

Bottlebrush Christmas Trees

One day while scrolling through Pinterest, I found this picture:Gorgeous! So I found a couple of tutorials over the web and combined them all into this one tutorial:

I bought two bags of Lemax Christmas village trees. I also bought two (3 to a pack) pack of medium sized trees at Hobby Lobby. I have also seen miniature trees at Dollar Tree. Michaels and Kmart also carry the Lemax trees. I bought mine off of Ebay for $10 a bag plus shipping. I wanted a variation of heights, so I found that this bag is the best for quantity and price.
Next, pour bleach in a bowl and place the trees in the bowl. You do this to get the dye off the trees. You really don’t have to bleach them if you don’t want to. I bleached half of them and the other half I didn’t. It does change the color of the glitter though. If you use darker color glitters it doesn’t matter, but if you don’t bleach the trees the lighter color glitters won’t look as good.
Wash the bleach out of the trees and let the trees dry on a dishrag.
Since I wanted to add some bling to some of the trees, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought miniature ornaments and some berries. If you can go when Christmas stuff is 50%, it’s really cheap to get all this stuff. I got the package of glitter at Michaels. I went this route because I wanted many different colored trees. I used a 50% off coupon so it was really cheap ($8 I think).
To add glitter to the trees, first, take the little stands off the end of the trees, then find some pliers or something to grip the end of the tree. Next, spray either spray adhesive or spray-paint all over the tree. Then dump glitter all over the tree while rotating it around. Shake any excess glitter off, then put the stand back on the tree and set it aside. REPEAT this step for all the other trees.Now, you can add the bling... Hot glue the mini bulbs/berries to the tree. I only did this a few of the trees.

Finally find somewhere to display them. Arrange them so the different sizes are mingled together.



I also made the Merry Christmas sign behind the trees. I like it, but I may figure something else out… It’s fine for the mean time.

Merry Christmas!!!

15 comments:

Comeca Jones said...

Super color!

Jungle MOM said...

They are gorgeous!! I want them . . . ;) I promise I won't steal them though.

Alli and Rick said...

I like this one- lots of fun color! Festival of Trees at the Pope Place :)

Kayla Retich said...

I absolutely LOVE this. I have it on my pinterest board and can't wait to make them. I love the pink ones.

Unknown said...

These are amazing!! What fun colors and great tutorial!

the cape on the corner said...

oh my gosh, how fun! i would never think to buy them in bulk like that and paint them myself! great idea!

LBP said...

Thank you so much for this tutorial!!! I have wondered where people are finding these beautiful color bottle brush trees and I can only find green!!! Off to Michaels!

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for posting this idea! I just love the way they came out.
And I love your whole blog too!

Buffie
http://papercuts4u.blogspot.com

Tausha said...

I love these! So cute!!! Great tutorial.

Crafty Mischief said...

Your trees are adorable! I love all the colors! I found you through Someday Crafts. Thanks for sharing!

Lindsi B said...

Awesome idea!!! I have all the supplies too! Would you please share this with our readers for our Fun Stuff Fridays linky party? http://www.toysinthedryer.com/2011/12/fun-stuff-fridays-3.html

Paxton said...

Oh my goodness! These are ADORABLE! I love it! Definitely doing this next year! The colors are amazing!

Unknown said...

i made spme myself..the old german glitter glass really makes them look great too it is a little thicker glitter but ;looks great...yours are beautiful......im going to go to the crafts stores as soon as the 50 per cent sales start and buy up all the trees and be ready for next year...lol


Unknown said...

i love these..i just made a few myself..i use the old fashioned german glass glitter it is a lil thicker but looks great.....im waiting for the holidays sales and go buy tons of tress and glitter and be ready for next christmas..thanks for sharing

Unknown said...

I just left my trees in the bleach too long and it ate them! The trees were disintegrated. How long are you supposed to leave them in the bleach? Just a few minutes? I left them probably an hour or more. :(