Bleaching and Dyeing Bottle Brush Trees

Posted in diy, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

I’ve been seeing lots of bottle brush trees all over Pinterest this Christmas season and love all of the different colors. I love the vintage-looking scenes that can be set up with bottle brush trees and I’ve always preferred to decorate with pastels and bright colors instead of the usual red and green themes. I had some bottle brush trees left over from the snow globes I made last year and also bough a bag of small bleached trees from Michaels.

I bleached the trees I had that were green with the intention of dyeing them after I was done but was pleasantly surprised when the trees I had from last year turned light pink before bleaching completely and the one green tree I had bought this year turned a light mint bluish-green. Since this was the colors I wanted to dye them I left them this color and then fully bleached a few.

I used my hurricane glass vase to bleach because I wanted something that was tall and narrow to stick the trees is, normally I wouldn’t use my good glass but ya know, use what you have! I used 1/3 bleach to 2/3 water in the glass and used tongs to dip them in. It really didn’t take long for them to start bleaching and I swished them around in the bleach water to help with the tongs, just wear rubber gloves and be careful. After I bleached the trees I soaked them in soapy water to get the bleach off.

Most of the tutorials I read said to use Rit dye to dye, or food coloring or cool-aid would also probably work, but I used this spray on dye by SEI Tumble Dye that I already had. I love this because it is already made and you can just spray it on, it’s perfect for small dye jobs and comes it tons of colors. You can find it at craft stores or online at www.shopsei.com.

I also touched up the happy accident trees a bit with the spray dye and mixed a bit with water in a spray bottle to get different shades. On the biggest tree I sprayed a couple different colors for an airbrushed ombre effect. That was another reason I used the spray, for the ombre effect, but if you’re going for one solid color, I’d recommend the dip dye method.

I love how they turned out, and I also sprayed a bottle brush wreath I found at Joanne Fabric! Show me yours on Instagram with the hashtag #peppermintsandhoneybees.

Happy Holidays!

19Sep2014

Painted Wooden Bangles

Posted in craft, diy, Jewelry by peppermintsandhoneybees

Wow, has it really been a month since I posted anything? Bad Jenna, bad! I have been working on things but not to completion I guess. I’ve been busy working and doing other fun things such as the Renegade Craft fair in Chicago, here’s their link. They do shows around the county and in London. It’s like etsy only not online! I had said that this was the year I’d finally have a booth but once again I chickened out. Boo me! But I did go to shop and like always it was amazing with amazing people making amazing art, jewelry, pottery, clothing and other goods. I also went to the Chicago riotfest this past weekend and rocked out! This was the third year in a row that Ben and I went and like always it was packed with awesome bands! Here’s the lineup if you were curious. Riotfest is in Denver this weekend.

I got a pretty good spot for Metric, one of my favorite bands and here’s one of Ben and I waiting for Social Distortion to start.

Any who like I mentioned one of the things I’ve actually finished recently was these two wooden bracelets I painted and then sprayed with a clear coat for protection. I’ve been really into all the constellation accessories I’ve been seeing lately and wanted to make my own take on the trend. And the triangles are just one of my favorite color pallets. It’s very summery because I guess I’m sad I see summer leave so soon. I love fall, don’t get me wrong but summer and I have a special relationship and goodbyes are always hard!

Well forgive me for the time gap and I’ll try to post more. Let me know what projects if any I should try out!

24Jul2014

Table and Chairs Refresh

Posted in diy, home, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

I’ve never really liked this table and chairs since they look like and probably are from the 90’s. Ben had gotten them used before we lived together and were definitely outdated and showing their age. We were going to buy a new dining room set but couldn’t find one (or a price) that we like. I decided that since they are still in pretty good shape we could keep them a little longer and I’d be happier with them if they looked a little more modern and a little pop of color can go a long way! I painted everything that was painted white and left the wood showing. I used satin latex paint with a semi-gloss polycyclic over it to seal it. It did take about four coats of the blue though since I was painting such a dark color over the white. It was a nice summer project and I’m pretty pleased with the way it turned out!

Before

After, plus my Birthday Flowers! 🙂 Plus find the cat for bonus points…

23Feb2014

Make Your Own Post Earrings

Posted in Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hello, everyone, for my first DIY I thought I would do an easy one that started when I couldn’t find any post earrings that I wanted to wear for everyday wear.

I used empty post earrings from Hobby Lobby and got out the ole’ bag of nail polish. Then I stuck the earrings in a ball of poly clay to keep them upright while they dried. I got out my favorite colors and dripped a few drops getting enough on so that there was a dome of polish on the surface. After it dried it still caved in a little in the middle but I don’t really mind the look. The dark purple was my favorite so far.

After it dried it was flatter than I had wanted so I repeated this step a couple times After I made the purple and blue pair I was pretty happy with the results so I tried something a little more challenging. I took some green loose eye shadow and mixed in in with clear nail polish in this bottle cap with a toothpick. (you use what you have handy!) I then used an old paintbrush to dab it on the same way as the first two.