Button Tree Tutorial

When I started this project, I had all the supplies in place and a plan to make this…

This is the Mariana tree from Ballard Designs. 

it is covered in Mother of Pearl buttons which are very expensive.  So, started looking for an alternative and this is what I came up with.

A bunch of colorful buttons from Michaels, heirloom white spray paint from Rust-Oleum, Styrofoam cones, Valspar’s pearl spray paint, work gloves and Styrofoam adhesive spray.  I am sure the adhesive spray is good for some applications, but this was not one of them.  I quickly abandoned that and got out my glue gun.  I then told my husband I wanted a new glue gun for Christmas.  I am not sure if it is a blister or a bruise, but my “trigger” finger is killing me!

The first step was to put glue on the cone and place the buttons on it.  I went through section by section for the first layer.  Then I went back and put the glue on the button and filled in where there was space or a messy spot that needed to covered.  I found turning it upside down for the first part was the easiest way to hold it.

Somewhere along the way, someone told me a trick about getting rid of those annoying glue gun strings.  Simply run a hair dryer over the spots and most of them will melt away.  Some need a little pulling and scraping.  I am very luck because my 8 year old daughter finds those really annoying and pulls them off for me with amazing patience.

Here it is covered in buttons.  The plan was to spray paint it with the Heirloom white and then lightly coat it with the pearl paint to give the look of mother of pearl buttons. 

Some day I will actually try that. But, for this project the buttons were so colorful and fun I could not bring myself to paint it!

Our basement family room is decorated in purple, orange, pink, green and brown.  I know, sounds completely crazy.  This room is a completely different side of my decorating personality. But I decided this would work perfectly in that room.

The crazy branch thing behind it I found at an estate sale a while back (the same one where I found all the sheet music I still have done nothing with.). I thought it work well in this room and for Christmas I have just hung some of my vintage ornaments all in bright pink.

The little “people” are ornaments my husband brought back from Russia a few years ago.  I thought they were too unique to get lost in the tree, so I put them here where they could really be seen.

I couldn’t stop myself from gluing buttons, so I went ahead and put some on a clear glass ornament I picked up at Michael’s and hung it from an old milk bottle.

In the next day or so I will be doing a post on my whole basement.  You will be able to learn about how I cured my Multiple Decorating Personality Disorder! 

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Tutorial: How to Make New Ornaments Look “Vintage”

Last night I FINALLY hung a wreath that has been five years in the making, literally.  Here is a sneak peak…

I was unable to get any decent pictures today because we were out hunting down a Christmas tree when the light was right.  Look for tomorrow’s posting with hopefully better pictures and an explanation of why it took five years to make a wreath!

As you can guess, it is a vintage ornament wreath.  If you have seen these before or made one yourself, you know that they require a TON of ornaments of all different sizes and shapes.  Finding all of those ornaments is a lot of work and can be expensive.  Often many of them get buried under others.  It seems like such a waste. 

So, the temptation is to use use newer ornaments but they just don’t look right. 

So I figured out a little trick to make new ornaments look old!

To start with, you will need some new ornaments.  I am pretty sure this does not work on the plastic type ornaments.

Please do not do this on expensive or sentimentally important ornaments.  This is meant to be done on “cheapy charlie” ornaments that won’t upset you if they don’t come out as planned.

Next, you need a working surface you don’t care about, nail polish remover and paper towels.  I started with cotton but found that they left fibers behind and took things off more in chunks.

From there it is pretty easy. 

Add a little nail polish remover to the paper towel and lightly dab at the ornament till you get the effect that you want. 

When you first start dabbing it only takes off the shine and then a little more dab and it brings it down to the silver.  Try to be patient and just lightly dab.  It looks more authentic that way.

If you wipe instead of dab it starts to sort of “smoosh” the finish which can then lead to peeling which is not so great.

This is the look that you should get.

Or, if you want you can take off even more.  It is really a personal choice.  This is an ornament where I was not patient and I wiped and you see the big sliver spot looks less natural then the dabbed areas.

This technique can be used to work ornaments in with truly vintage ornaments in a project.  Or, you can do a whole project or display with this technique to get a “vintage” look with inexpensive ornaments.

If you try this project, I would love to see your results!



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Mummy Wreath Tutorial

Here is the wreath from my front door. I was pretty happy with how it came out and it was easy as pie!

Step 1: Find a wreath. Almost any wreath will work. I worked with a straw wreath but if I were to do it again I would use Styrofoam because they are less expensive and less messy.

Step 2: Cut strips of muslin. I used the cheapest one because I wanted it to fray. I started with some smaller strips that were wider, about 3" wide by about 12" long. I wrapped them around the wreath and tied the ends of the fabric in a knot. I kept going until all of the straw was covered.

Step 3: I cut a whole bunch of thin strips of muslin and tied them to each other to create a long piece of knotted muslin. Once I had about 10 piece tied together I began wrapping it around the wreath. I changed directions several times so that there was not a pattern developing. Keep doing this until you have your desired look.

Step 4: I used a piece of black tulle ribbon to hang the wreath to a hook.

Step 5: I glued plastic spiders randomly on the wreath

Step 6: I used another piece of the black tulle ribbon to tie the "beware" sign. I already had this one but I am sure it would be easy enough to find something similar at the dollar store.

That is it.

I am sure there a lot of variations that can be done on this same theme like adding a crow or larger spiders.

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