DIY Glittered Bottle Brush Trees

So, I have to admit that I have gone bottle brush crazy this

holiday season.  It actually started last Christmas when I saw

other folks on blogs and Pinterest using cute bottle brush trees in 

decorating so I bought some packages of bottle brush trees

 at after-Christmas sales to save for this year's decorating.

The bottle brush trees that I had seen that appealed to 
me the most, were ones that looked vintage. 
To get a vintage look, folks were bleaching new
and fairly inexpensive green bottle brush trees
available in craft stores then adding glitter and/or beads. 

I followed other's directions for bleaching the bottle brush 

trees this year in a mix of water and bleach in my kitchen sink. 

I really didn't measure as well as the directions indicated.

Pretty much it was about 1/3 a sink of water and a

five second "pour" of regular bleach.  Some trees bleached 

faster and better than others (even ones out of the same pack).

I just left them in the bleach solution till they

 lost most of their green color.

For some that was 15 minutes and for others it was hours.

For a few, it was never.

The bottle brush trees need to be made of a natural material

and not heavily flocked to be able to bleach out.  

For the trees that turned out to be non-bleachable,

 I decided to try to spray paint them.

I kept trying to come up with the perfect paint color or

combination of paint colors to make the trees look

like the trees that bleached out well.

I tried different whites, almonds, beiges, yellows, even

 matte gold spray paints, but nothing I acheived

 looked exactly like the real thing. 

 However, the paint turned out to be "good enough".

In the end, the ones that looked the best had kind

 of a layering/combination/melding  of the different colors,

(that's just FYI in case you decide that a nice size bottle brush

tree is worth trying to spray paint and glitter. I do think it is.)

I finally had to move on to other projects and stop

 trying to get the perfect color for the trees.

 I hoped that adding glitter would hide the fact that

 the trees were not same colors as the bleached trees.

The least attractive trees got the most glitter.

The process is quite simple.

Apply spray adhesive to the tree and 

immediately add glitter.

Pictured below are the trees that refused to let much 
their green color be covered up with spray paint. 

They got a dose of copper and/or bronze glitter.

Trees that turned out whiter, got silver or white glitter.

To also keep folks from inspecting the less than

 great trees too closely, I decided to put them behind glass

in the bookcase/dresser that I painted this past year. 

Here is a photo of other objects that I was planning 

on painting/enhancing also for use in the bottle brush vignette.

The clear bottles got an "inside job" with Krylon's mirror 

finish spray paint.  I just realized this week that to get 

the reflective finish, it has to be sprayed on the 

INSIDE of a clear object.  That is stated on the label

but I had never bothered to read that bit of info. 

The green bottles got sprayed with white paint.

After the now-white bottles were dry, they got a coat of 

spray adhesive and then were quickly rolled in a pile

 epsom salt to give the illusion of snow on the bottle. 

This idea came from Tracie at her Cleverly Inspired blog.

The too-terribly tarnished goblets that were passed along

to me from my grandmother, were given a treatment

with silver "Rub and Buff" cream from the craft store.

I moved the shelves around in the cabinet to 

accomodate the bottles for this Christmas display.

I'm opening the glass doors for you to see

 close-ups of the vignettes:

The tiniest trees in the cabinet were some that DID bleach well.  You can see how you can 

determine how much or little color you want in trees that are bleach-able by how long you 

leave them in the water/bleach bath.  These little ones only have glitter or paint applied to their 

bases...none on their branches for this vignette. 

The trees that got glitter look much more
"sparkle-y" in person.

I'm hoping to post about more bottle brush Christmas

 displays in my house this coming week with mostly

the trees that did bleach out well.

I'm sharing this post at
Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now
Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper
Saturday Night Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Something I Whipped Up for Christmas @ The Girl Creative
Make The Scene Monday @ Alderberry Hill
Sunday Showcase @ Under The Table and Dreaming

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps On The Porch
Tabletop Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life
Christmas Cheer Link Party @ Artsy Fartsy Mama
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Clever Chicks Blog Hop @ The Chicken Chick