Halloween Bottle Brush Trees

Bottle brush trees are just sprouting

up everywhere here at

Purple Chocolat Home

for Halloween.

Today I am going to show you a

simplified way to create colorful

bottle brush trees to fill your holiday

house.

I created the Halloween Bottle brush trees

in color collections.

These are my purple ones, and some

will be able to double for Christmas.

The orange and yellow collection,

And the black collection.

I made over 30 in one afternoon,

and they were super easy,

because we aren't going to do

any bleaching.

I found these natural trees by

Tim Holtz on Amazon.

They are 5 inches tall (3 for $9).

I also purchased another assortment

found on Amazon, ranging from 1 1/2

inches to 4 inches, that people said could

be bleached (24 for $15).

That way I skipped the whole bleaching

process.  This makes it so easy, and I

love the 5 inch trees.  They are a little

harder to find this tall.

Start by dissolving about half a package of

dry Rit dye in hot water in a plastic cup. 

 I used yellow, orange, purple

and black.  My black was liquid, but

the others were powdered.  

Also fill a cup or two with half white

vinegar and half water.  I used two cups,

as I didn't want to rinse my darks and

lights together.

To create the ombre effect like above,

don't dip the top so that it remains

natural, then dip two thirds of the way

up with yellow, and then the bottom

third with orange.

After dipping in dye,

rinse under running water, 

then dip in the vinegar mix to set the color, 

and let dry on paper towels.

The black didn't want to take as well.

It rinsed out creating a brown effect,

so I didn't rinse it off, I let it dry without

rinsing and it stayed a dark black.

Finish by brushing Mod Podge on the tree

and then sprinkling glitter on.

I just love the dark purple ones - of course!!

My friend Joanne taught us how to make

these for Easter a couple of years ago.  Click

on that link for making ones you have to bleach.

She always glams hers up by gluing 

the trees to the tops of

salt shakers to add height and style.  I found

mine on Amazon - get sets of 12 for about

$1 each shaker.  Fill

your shakers with glitter, sparkle or baubles

and glue on some fun Halloween ribbon,

buttons, spiders, or anything fun and sparkly.

Joanne even has some that are on

silver plated salt and pepper shakers

that she got thrifting!  I need some of those -

so elegant.

As you can see, Beulah loves them so much,

she is surrounded by them.  We have them

placed all over the house.

Enjoy!  This only takes a little while

and is so easy, and the trees can be

here so quickly if you have 

Amazon Prime!

Thanks for flying in to see us this

fun time of year.

Happy Halloween decorating.

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