Bottle Brush Trees

There is a bit of a bottle brush tree obsession going on at our house. 

Mollie was inspired last year by our friend Paige Knudsen's mantel

 and her quest began- filling the mantel with a forest of bottle brush trees. 

Every size and color!

This is our mantel from last year. 

This year the forest is full and colorful! 

(Although she is on the hunt for 1 more tall gold bottle brush tree for the left side !!)

Look at these colors!!

They are a lot of fun because they come in every color imaginable and are fun to group all together or tuck in here and there. Here are a couple we added to our powder room shelf.

I made a much smaller scale bottle brush display :)

 I "planted" mine in vintage blue and white tea cups and bowls. This one is on a brass bamboo tray that corrals our hot chocolate corner in the kitchen.

Bottle Brush trees have an unusual name but they are exactly what it sounds like!

This is what Google had to say:

In the 1930s, Addis Brush Company, an American manufacturer of toilet bowl brushes, began dyeing bristles green and assembling them into artificial Christmas trees. These new artificial trees were especially popular in Britain, which had lost many of its trees during WWI.

And now, they are very popular again. 

You can find them anywhere that sells Christmas decorations!

Blue and White Chinoiserie Christmas Preview

I did wait until after Halloween to post what I've been making lately.

(And I have been eating Halloween candy while doing it!!)

The biggest project has been this blue and white plate wreath that was inspired by @tortoiseandharevintage on IG. She installs a plate wall wreath in her shop! 

A lot of people have asked "how?" on my IG feed 

and on my @elizabethandpayne IG account.

It's pretty easy - just takes a little time.

That is a faux pine wreath. I bought it at a wholesale florist and it truly looks real but there are faux wreaths for sale everywhere right now.

I gathered an assortment of thrifted blue and white plates  

then laid them out on the wreath to get an idea of placement. 

Next I adhered these amazing plate hangers to the back of my plates.

They dry over night and then I added my plates to the wreath and tied a big plaid bow for the top center!

I did the same thing for this smaller wreath 

and just used a single plate to fill the center opening. 

I forgot to take a better picture :( and sorry about the price tag but I didn't have a spare moment to take a cute, styled blogger appropriate pic before it went to the booth.

And then I've created some little Winter Wonderlands 

in blue and white teacups and bowls. 

They will be great as hostess gifts and to just add a touch of Christmas to places like a powder room where there isn't a lot of room for more decorations.

This one is so small and cute. The tallest tree is only about 2 1/2 inches tall!

And lots of people are creating these Chinoiserie blue and white ornaments. 

Just hit up Pinterest if you need tips on how-to!

These are good sellers for us and I enjoy drawing them.

I made my first one a few years ago for this little tree and I haven't stopped yet!

There's definitely more Chinoiserie Christmas to come but that's a little sneak peak for now!

Mollie's Bottlebrush Tree Obsession

Mollie's bottlebrush tree obsession is strong!

It started with a few and then she saw sweet Paige's mantel last year and from there the hunt for bottlebrush trees took on a life of it's own!

Mollie said "I want to decorate the mantel this year."
And she did!
Our mantel this year: 

They are so fabulous that they are the focal point in the family room. 

The "big tree" is having to play second fiddle to the colorful "forest" on the mantel.

PS. I painted my brick fireplace white last year and I'm still loving it.
 If you are thinking about it - do it! It changed the room!

This one escaped the mantel and found a perch in a little blue and white bowl!

We found our bottlebrush trees everywhere.
Target. Hobby Lobby. Lowe's and more. 

Warning: Bottlebrush trees are addictive.