Glittering Bottle Brush Easter Trees

Yes, we have a forest of glittering bottle brush trees

at Purple Chocolat Home for Easter decor!  

Are these just the cutest?

Bottle brush trees are just so enchanting.

I have never tried making them before

and had the opportunity to be invited to

a crafting night at Joanne's house.

Joanne worked as a manager at Hallmark stores

for years and years and she has quite the marvelous

collection of everything.  This is her Easter mantel.

She made the lovely handkerchief and vintage glove

swag for her fireplace with vintage flowers tucked into

the gloves.  I definitely want to make this.

Joanne invited us over to make bottle brush

Easter trees.  None of us had ever made them before.

What a fun evening of crafting we had and we found

out these were so easy.

Laura went right home and decorated her mantel

with the Easter bottle brush trees and a banner that

Joanne had made her.  

When we arrived she had eight trees for each of us.

Two she had left unbleached so we could do it and

see how easy it was.  The other six she had bleached

for us so we could work quickly.  

First remove the little wooden base.  She told us that

synthetic trees will not accept color and that a clue

to whether your tree was natural fiber or synthetic was

whether it had wood bases or plastic.  Ours have wood.

Put gloves on and dip in a bowl with a mixture

of 3/4 part bleach to 1 part water.  This bleaching

process only takes a few minutes so watch them.  If you want

a mint green tree, remove it before the color is 

all gone.  

Rinse the tree in water and then dip in another

bowl of white vinegar.  Rinse again and let dry.

We cheated and used a blow dryer to help

ours dry more quickly.

Then dip in a bowl of dye.  The dye is made by

placing enough water in the bowl to cover your

tree and mixing in some powdered Rit Dye until

you get a dark rich color.  

Rinse again.  You can dip again if you want the

color a little darker.

Then dip again in vinegar and rinse again.

After the trees are dried, replace the wooden base and

brush with a little Mod Podge.

You may need to use a little craft glue to replace

the bases on some.

Sprinkle glitter over the tree.  It will stick to the

Mod Podge.  Shake off excess glitter.

Let the glue dry.  It will dry clear.

Joanne took some of hers up a notch and

placed them in old salt and pepper shakers

that she blinged up.  I definitely want to

do this!  

Scatter your little Easter bottle brush trees

around the house to make your vignettes sparkle 

and come alive.  The softness of the natural brushes

really adds to any vignette you place them in.

I have them in my kitchen and living room

and I realize I need more!

We decided we preferred the clear glitter to

the gold glitter as in the demonstration tree.

The clear lets the pastel colors shine through.

I will be sharing this with 

Mosaic Monday

Metamorphosis Monday

The Scoop

Home Sweet Home

Feathered Nest

Pink Saturday