The holidays are fast approaching & nothing screams winter wonderland more than birch tree decor!
And thanks to Dixie Belle Chalk Paints & eBrush Siphon, I can make a festive, eye-catching centerpiece with a distressed catch-all dish for mints & such!
For this project, I absolutely fell in LOVE with Dixie Belle chalk paint in Fluff! It was the right shade of bright white with a gorgeous matte finish that birch tree bark is known for.
You Will Need:
+ Window & tile cleaner
+ Various twigs from outside
+ Scrap transfer foil
+ Exacto knife
+ Plastic serving plate & dessert plate, black
+ Faerie lights (optional)
+ Hot glue gun
+ Cut'n'Boss (for ornaments)
+ Teresa Collins cutting dies, Thankful Holiday & Girl's Best Friend (for ornaments)
1. Assemble your twigs in a way that you like. The arrangement can be in any way possible, but I took some time to make sure the placement looked as natural as possible. Then hot glue them into place.
2. Use an Exacto knife to cut hole in the center of the plastic serving plate large enough for the base of the main twig to fit through. Glue the smaller dessert plate, upside down, underneath the larger plate. Cut an 'X' into the smaller plate as well, push the twig into the hole and hot glue in place.
3. Mix (1) part window cleaner & (1) part Dixie Belle chalk paint. Normally it would be a 1:2 ratio, but I wanted the paint to pool into droplets on the plastic plate. When the paint dries onto the plate, it will look like distressed ceramic.
4. Paint the entire tree & plate. I painted the first layer & waited a few minutes until the paint almost completely dried. Then I painted another layer, waited again and airbrushed the final layer. Layering will give you better coverage on the final piece. If you notice the plate, the pooled paint gives a very nice texture.
5. To create a gilded birch centerpiece, I used my hot glue to add some dabs of glue on various parts of the branches. When the glue was still hot, I used scraps of my rose gold transfer foil to add speckles of foil. Look at some reference for birch trees & birch bark to get an idea of what it should look like.
6. Lastly, as a optional measure, feed the faerie lights through the bottom of the plates at the base of the birch tree, and twist around the trunk and its branches. Cut a small notch on the side of the small dessert plate rim to act as a placeholder for the wiring to feed neatly through. Cut some black cardstock ornaments with the Cut'n'Boss to decorate.
TADA! Hope you enjoy your holidays this year! ;)
-Judith
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