Create Your Own Vintage Bottle Brush Trees

I have always loved the look of tiny bottle brush trees, circa 1940's. I ran across a very nice blog called Hazelruthes and realized I could make them myself. It turned out to be one of my most favorite Christmas projects ever. I think it's because the transformation is so dramatic and the result is so magical.

I started with a large bag of these little trees. I got this bag of 21 trees at Michaels. With a 50% off coupon, they were $9.99. I have seen and used these trees for years and never realized they were actually bottle brush trees.

They are a kind of ugly dark green with snow-covered tips. Not too special.

You simply fill your sink or a bowl with clorox and leave them to soak.

They start bleaching out fairly quickly. The longer you leave them in, the whiter they become. You can pull the snow off at this point if you want to.

Soak in a solution of vinegar and water for a few minutes to neutralize the clorox smell. This is how they look when they are wet.

They look like this once they are dry.

Zac and Alex helped me.

We mixed different colors of liquid Rit Dye with water and dipped the trees into it. The longer we left the trees in, the more intense the color became.

One of my favorites is the pretty blue tree that Alex dyed.

Some of them looked rusty and a couple of them broke. I simply glued them back and dyed them extra dark colors. They turned out just fine.

To decorate, I lightly applied glue to the tips of the branches with a paintbrush, then poured pretty glitter onto them. (Shake off the excess, of course). I added small pearls to some of them.

I decorated my dining room table with them. Details coming in my next post.

Who would have thought that a simple bottle brush could be so pretty?

Festive Waxed Paper

This is an idea I got from Martha Stewart. It is easy and could be done for a variety of different occasions and is great to use for wrapping food gifts.

Materials needed:

waxed paper
copy or construction paper
paper punch
iron
pressing cloth or paper towels

1. First, lay cotton fabric or paper towels on your ironing board to protect it.
2. Lay one layer of waxed paper onto ironing board.
3. Place paper cutouts on top.

4. Cover with another piece of waxed paper:

5. Cover all with a cotton pressing cloth or paper towels.
6. Run an iron, set to medium heat, lightly over the layers to set:

How easy is that?!

Wrap something delicious with your newly crafted paper...

...and give it to someone special.

Cookie Cutter Fudge

I love fudge. Especially at Christmas. This is a great way to make the gift of fudge even more fun and special. You can make these with your favorite recipe, or with the recipe I have included in this post, which is for Fantasy Fudge. My mom used to make Fantasy Fudge when I was little and I believe that it is hard to improve on its creamy texture and rich chocolate flavor.

Supplies needed:

15-20 cookie cutters
large cookie sheet
aluminum foil
cooking spray
1 recipe of Fantasy Fudge
small cellophane gift bags
ribbon

Fantasy Fudge

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk
1 pkg. (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate pieces (I recommend Ghirardelli)
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp. vanilla
M & M minis

Combine sugar, margarine and milk in heavy 2 to 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat or until candy thermometer reaches 234° F., stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.

Stir in chocolate pieces until melted. Add marshmallow creme, nuts and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour into a greased 13-by-9-inch pan.

Cool at room temperature. Cut into squares.

Makes 3 pounds.


Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Then spray the inside of each cookie cutter with cooking spray and place them on the foil:

Make the fudge. Mmmmm....

While the fudge is still very warm, carefully spoon it into each cookie cutter. Decorate them while they are still warm, also. The first time I made them, I decorated them with candy sprinkles, but M & M Minis are more colorful and they blend better with the taste of the fudge. You can use your fingers to press the fudge into the corners if you need to.

Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Then place in individual bags and tie with ribbon. See how much better the M & M's look?

For one gift, I used a small white bucket. I placed a paper towel in the bottom to add height:

Then I covered that with paper shred:

I placed the fudge inside and sprinkled a few Hershey kisses around it, and added a cute tag.

For other gifts I used slightly larger baskets and added Christmas crackers that I'd made. (That post should follow tomorrow).

Uncommon Gift Containers

There is no time like the present to start preparing for Christmas, especially if you are taking the time to make something by hand. This project uses new paint cans which can be decorated with paper or fabric. I made a snowman to go on one of the cans I did, and that one ended up being my favorite. If you use wrapping paper or handmade paper, it needs to be heavy. The thin wrapping paper tends to wrinkle.

They can then be filled with cookies, candy, or small gifts. After you have filled them with your surprises, the top is hammered on, which, of course, makes the opening of the gift more challenging and the contents more intriguing.

Items needed:
Small new paint cans with lids (Home Depot $1.88)
Alene's Tacky Glue
Heavy wrapping paper
Handmade paper
Christmas fabric
Fusible interfacing (if using fabric)
Trim to match
Ribbon to tie with, if desired

For snowman:
heavy white scrapbook paper
toothpick (for nose)
orange acrylic paint
twigs (for arms)
3-D dots
buttons

Measure paper and cut into a piece 13- 3/4" long and 4 -5/8" wide. It's okay if it doesn't line up perfectly with the edges as you glue it onto the can. You can use trim to hide imperfections. Shown in this picture is some white embossed wrapping paper that I found at Hallmark last year. After I cut it out, I painted it, using the same technique that I did in my covered candle post last December, except this time I used metallic silver instead of metallic gold paint.

Apply glue to can with a foam paint brush. Then carefully apply paper or fabric.

If using fabric, iron fusible interfacing to the back:

Then measure and draw cutting lines onto the interfacing. Cut out and apply with glue to the can.

I free-handed a snowman onto the heavy white scrapbook paper with a fine-tip roller ball. I left my sketch lines showing. I cut a toothpick to an appropriate nose size and painted it orange. I glued it on when it was dry. I went out into my yard and found tiny twigs for the arms. I bought these little buttons at Hobby Lobby, but you could use mismatched ones that you already have.

I found this handmade paper at Village Press in Mountain Brook. I thought it looked like snow falling against a night sky. I applied pom-pom trim to the top.

I glued the twigs to the back of the snowman with a generous amount of glue and applied several 3-D dots to the back to make him stand out:

I found the trim and sticker I used for the can shown in the middle at Hobby Lobby.
After you complete the cans, fill them up and hammer down the tops. (The ones in the picture are not hammered down). A rubber mallet would be a good choice. Or, you could place a piece or block of wood on top of the can and hammer directly onto that.

I hope you have fun with this. The possibilities are endless!

If you don't have time to make this, but like the idea of a handmade container, go to www.goodpails.com. Elexis, the owner, is a work-at-home mom who creates some really cute gift pails. Go and check out her site!