Happy Trees

Another Academe goal accomplished! Remember my recent post to attempt this? Well, I did it and I so enjoyed it that I am here to testify of it's goodness. I'm also here to share what I did in case you'd like to do it yourself because hey, it's Christmas and that's all in the spirit, yo. This is easily done in a night and if you want to embellish, within 24 hours so if you get crack-a-lackin you can enjoy your efforts this year!
Here's how its done:
1) Pick up a bag of Lemax brand trees at Michaels (right now they are 50% off!) in the model train/village section. They come in a bag of 21 (?) assorted sizes. Dark green with white plastic snow all over them (This comes off in the bleaching process)
2) Fill a sink with hot water deep enough to submerge your trees. Add some bleach (approx 1-2 cups per 3 gallons). Use rubber gloves and place your trees in the water. Swish them around and rotate them while the green fades. The process only takes around 10 minutes. Rinse and remove the trees to a towel.
3) Prepare some Rit dye in preferred colors. I used kelly green, fuscia and royal blue. Place the bowls right next to the sink & prepare a towel for the dyed trees to dry. Place one or two trees in the color, make sure you cover all the areas, remove and rinse immediately. I wanted lighter shades so they only needed to be in the dye about 5-10 seconds, sometimes less. Have fun playing with deeper colors or blends.
PS- The trees will take the dye much faster if they are completely dry rather than dying right after this bleaching process. Keep that in mind or your colors may be darker than what you want.
4) Place rinsed trees on towel to dry. Or send them to Belize for a little sun by the pool.
5) I used a glue gun to embellish with some silver accents. If you want to try glitter, I used the Martha glitter glue- just dabbing the brush end of the applicator on the tip of the branches and then rolled the tree on a paper plate with glitter. Ta Da. All sparkles and happiness!

Hope this inspires you to go make your own. Have fun!