Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Aussie Christmas trees....

 AS most of you would know it's Summer here in Australia and the traditional scenes of Winter and snow and a White Christmas just do not apply. I had seen these little bottle brush trees popping up on pinterest every where but I wanted to give mine a bit of a Summery flavour. What better way  to get some vibrant colours than to use Heidi Swapp  Color Shine to mist them.
I created this fun little scene combining the traditional snow ( which by the way is rock salt !)  with my bright fun trees and a few of my son's toy cars! I have a simple tutorial at the end of my post if any one is interested in making these your self!
 
 
 
Nothing screams Summer more than yellow, here I have used the Mustard Color Shine to really bring this tree to life. I tied a smaller tree to my son's tractor using some thin natural twine.
 

One of the colours in my Christmas decor is purple so I chose Amethyst next, I love how bold it is. I used a mini glass cake stand to hold this little feature, that reindeer I found at Spotlight!

 
Here I have combined a store bought tree and two bottle brush trees, the Mint Green Color Shine coordinated nicely with the other colours. I had to mound the 'snow' up around the base of that store bought tree to cover the plastic, so I added my youngest son's snow digger for a bit of fun!

 
Finally, I used this glass biscuit jar to hold my last scene, the Sweet Cherry Color shine was a perfect shade for the bright Summery feeling I was looking for, you can see I glued one of the quotes to the tree using clear glue gel.

 
My six year old was watching me with baited breath and couldnt keep his fingers still so he decided to create his own 'display'. He grabbed the plastic tray, the left over rock salt and set about making his scene, adding object after object until he was happy!
 
 
 
I started with a couple of packets of Tim Holtz bottle brush trees, my chosen Color Shine mists and some washi tape.

 
I wrapped the wooden base of the trees with washi tape so they would not get mist on them.

 
I then used sticky tape and blu tack to stand the trees up in my misting box and misted each tree until the desired color was achieved.

 
While I was waiting for them to dry I typed out some Christmas quotes, printed them out and cut them into strips. I then snipped the ends to create banners and inked the edges to add definition.

 
I added coordinating beads to some of the trees using a clear gel glue. I then poured the rock salt onto my glass tray and arranged each piece until I was happy!

 
 
 
Photobucket

22 comments:

BabyBokChoy said...

Such adorable TREES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish my Christmas is in the summer! lol.

Michelle said...

I love these!!! So fun!!! I am with Jing-Jing I wish our Christmas was in the summer too. She and I and everyone in the Twin Cities, MN/western WI are getting snowed on right now. And it is pretty nippy out too!

amanda73 said...

lov your scene...shows our xmas erfectly......just gorgeous, love addisons scene too

Lizzy Hill said...

VERY individual...my favest bit is the tree on the tractor!!!! Good sense of humour there, Kim! And your DS's scene is really, really neat...got Mum's artistic sense, methinks:):):):)

Lizzy Hill said...

VERY individual...my favest bit is the tree on the tractor!!!! Good sense of humour there, Kim! And your DS's scene is really, really neat...got Mum's artistic sense, methinks:):):):)

Melissa Stinson said...

I love these, Kim! I'm definitely going to have to try some of these myself!

Anne P said...

Beautiful Kim, looks fantastic. And what a great idea to use rock salt!!

Leanne said...

gorgeous! I love the xmas scene in the glass jar!

Kerryn said...

I absolutely adore this Kim!

Unknown said...

I really like the brightly coloured ones :)

Chantal Vandenberg said...

This is very very clever, Kim!!!

Lauren Hender said...

Fun and Fantastic! Love it!

Jasmine S said...

Beautiful. What a gorgeous display.

Lizzyc said...

Oh you are so clever Kim! This looks wonderful and your scene has made me feel cooler!! Love the trees! Have a wonderful weekend! And a very Merry Christmas!

Melinda Spinks said...

Ha... such a fun post and those little trees are adorable. I love the little tractor with it's tree tied on top. You must be the bestest mum Ever!!! :)

Tarrah McLean said...

Oh wow these are so adorable Kim, love how you have shined them up, they look beautiful and how cute Addison getting in on the act too, love his creation too!!

Merry Christmas to you and your family xxxx

Di Garling said...

FANTASTIC Kim. Merry Christmas. Cheers Di xo

Paula said...

Wow fabulous idea, love 'em! Merry Christmas to you & yours!

Trine Brandt-Lassen said...

Love the summery feel to your Christmas display! So cute. We had a HUGE snowstorm yesterday. It was so pretty, but most of the snow has melted already. Merry Christmas to you and your family...

Mona Pendleton said...

Merry Christmas to you and your family Kim :)

Svetlana Austin said...

Kim this is so fun! love your colorful summer Christmas approach!
Merry Christmas and happy new year to you and your wonderful family! wishing you all the beautiful things - peace, joy and good health! ♥

Rebecca Keppel said...

What an adorable scene! LOve your little guy's too :)