THE BOTTLE BRUSH TREE EXPERIENCE

I'm in love with the IDEA of crafting, but I'm just not very good at it. Give me thread and fabric and I can create; but glitter, glue, and I have never learned how to play together very well. But, I was so intrigued with Manuela of The Pleasures of Homemaking
and her bottle-brush bleaching project that I just had to try it.

I didn't take any pictures of the bleaching process, because Manuela's tutorial is so good - you can click here
to follow her instructions. Basically you buy those little non-plastic bottle-brush trees that are made to accessorize villages. Then you put them in a combination of bleach and water until they turn white. Rinse them in water, and let them dry. From this point on, they can be dyed with Rit dye and/or decorated any way you want.

I chose to leave mine white and glitter them. The thing that I did different was to remove their little white plastic bases, and replace them with wooden blocks that I decoupaged with scrapbook paper. I then covered the blocks with two coats of Mod Podge to seal. We predrilled holes in the blocks and reinserted the wire stems in with a dab of Elmer's glue.

I am enjoying my finished trees, and have given some away as gifts.

I'm still not too fond of the glittering and gluing process, but had lots of fun choosing the scrapbook papers.

Since Susan of A Southern Daydreamer is allowing indoor decorations during the month of December, I'm linking to Outdoor Wednesday
for this week's party.
Be sure to check out Susan's blog for a list of the other participants.