January 5, 2013

Use Epsom Salt As Snow



Epsom salt is inexpensive and readily available in
the pharmacy section of drug and discount stores.

I bought the epsom salts in a few different locations.
The best price I found was 2 pounds for 88 cents at Wal Mart.

I already had the glass vases, etc. that I put the snowy scenes in.
This Christmas was the year of the bleached bottle brush trees
at my house.  They were on the mantle, the dining room table
and "versions of" on the kitchen table in addition to this vignette.

Some bottle brush trees bleach better than others.  In my
 experience, the safest bet was to buy the ones in bags.
Those seemed to lose their color easily and ended up only
costing about $1 per tree or less.  I would fill the kitchen sink
up with enough water to cover the trees, add about a
5 second pour of bleach into the water, and then add the trees.

Pull the trees out of the water/bleach bath when they get the
color that you want.  That might be 15 minutes or several hours. 

Also I purchased miniature objects from WalMart, Michaels 
and Hobby Lobby to add with the trees.  These were $5 or less.
Bird-loving Snowman

Snowman losing his nose to hunger deer

This couple looked a little too "new"...they got
a rub down with some brown paint before "showtime".

Really tiny plastic deer in doll section of HL.
They were so little that I decided not to put them 
"under glass" but on a painted-white-glittered-wooden base
so that if someone wanted to see them closely, they could
just pick them up for closer inspection.

The epsom salts got poured into the vases and onto platters
 to mimick the look of snow in the mini winter wonderlands...
kind of like topless snow globes.











One of my sons is getting married this summer.  
  I found this miniature bride and groom and put them with a couple
of trees in a tiny cloche in the vignette to celebrate the upcoming marriage.
The "Save The Date" to the wedding was placed on the framed
  chicken wire Christmas card display behind the vignette. 



A snowy cardboard house that was super discounted at a
store because some of its glue had turned yellow, got a paint
touch-up and was ready to be the star attraction in this vase.

It was only as I was placing it in the vase that I realized that it
had the added feature of having a light inside of it to add
glow to the wonderous "snow" made of epsom salt. 

The trees in this vignette did not have glitter added
but if you would like to know how to do that, you can
go to "Glittered Bottle Brush Trees Vignette". 

I am sharing this post over at Debbie and Shannon's
3rd Annual All Things Dollar Tree Party

12 comments

  1. This is so adorable! You are so creative. I will be on the lookout for glasses and vases to use for my own grouping! I love the idea of the woodland scenes, it's a great replacement for the Christmas decorations. A pretty winter vignette! I would like to try my hand at bleaching some of the trees, too.

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  2. I absolutely LOVE all of your little glass domes with your displays inside. What a great idea! I hope you don't mind if I pin it to my Christmas idea board!

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  3. Gayle-Those are all just darling. I think that is one of the cutest bride/groom figurines I have ever seen. Blessings to you today-thanks for sharing your sweet things- xo Diana

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  4. I am so doing this next year. The faux bags of snow always have too large of flakes for miniature scenes. But you know what? I cannot get new bottle brush trees to bleach. I tried last year and this year and nothing. I soaked overnight in bleach and water and they slightly faded. It must be the brand I bought. I have not bought the sack of trees yet. I've just bought individual ones and they have not faded. I know some are made of plastic and some are metal brush but the two I tried were natural brush. So weird.

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  5. Great ideals. I love the salt snow tip, can get that any time of year. Loved that you painted those ugly ceramic houses all white. And bleach the trees. wonderful. next years projects.Thanks, Richard from My old Historic House.

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  6. The snowman with the deer is so cute!

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  7. How much snow did you use for the vases? I am doing my centerpieces this way and I need to do 18 of em with 3 inches deep of snow in a 4 inch diameter vase but not sure how much I need!

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    1. Hi Nichole! That is a good question. I'm not sure on exact amounts to use but you could buy one box at the drug store or Walmart to try to see how far that one box would go in filling your containers to the height that you want. For example if one box filled two vases 3 inches deep, you would need nine boxes for 18 vases. Hope that helps.

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  10. It is a common scene in winter to start one's morning de-icing the huge chunks of snow that has covered your car and windows or blocked the entrance door of your house. snow broom for car

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