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Sunday, November 30, 2014

Lycopodium for Christmas

First of all, before I say anything else, I have to send out a Thank You! to Karin Corbin.  She did a Black Friday drawing over at her blog http://karincorbin.blogspot.com/ and Tessie won a micro mini town that Karin designs and sells on ETSY. They are Wonderful... But, I ask you... Why do I enter and somehow Tessie winds up winning the town???  Anyway, Thanks Karin!


OK, I dug out the lycopodium this morning.  I also found four bottle brush trees...
I want them to look more like natural, outdoor trees.  I can trim them later to make Christmas trees.

This is what you look for in the store right now.  This size is priced at $1.00 at Walmart right now.

I am starting to feel like one of those old fogies that starts every sentence with "I remember when..."  These silly things used to cost less than a quarter a piece... Now not so. 


Anyway, I pulled out my tub of lycopodium and went to work.  I got my supply about five years ago at Hobby Builders Supply.  I don't know if they still carry it or not.  I am running low.  I don't think that I have enough to finish these four trees.  Some may stay as is.
 If you decide to try this, this is how you do it. The greenery comes in branches that have branches that have branches,...

They are fan like and I just pull them apart.  No cutting needed.  It is a bit messy, but that's the fastest way to get it done, as no two branches are alike.
Then you simply start at the bottom of the bottle brush, dip your branch end in white glue and shove it in.

At the bottom of the tree, you try to get them perpendicular to the ground and as you go up, you start sticking them in in a more upwards manner.  That's how the real trees grow.

The tree in the photo still needs to be gone over and branches added here and there.

I may trim it a bit to give it some shape.  These are going outdoors.  They don't need to be perfect Christmas tree shape.
 I got some snow added here and there this morning too...

I am liking the natural look so far... OK.  So the crystal trees aren't exactly natural... We have to have some decorations here and there.
I am not finished with anything yet.  I will add stuff as I find it.  Somehow, last year, everything got put away helter skelter.  Not a good way to do things.

I am still hunting for more trees and bushes...They are probably at the bottom of the barrel...  Somewhere out in the garage. 

Back to hunting... Someone tie a string to my ankle.  I am going back into the garage!

See you tomorrow...

7 comments:

The grandmommy said...

Great ideas for trees! I am also interested in that printers box is that for display or are able to actually store your tools in there?

rosanna said...

I love how you landscaped the houses.
Best wishes to you all, Rosanna

Phyllisa said...

Hi Casey. I was glad to see you do another mini tree. It was a reminder that I need to do two trees for this Christmas. Two of the trees I had painstakingly done from years ago rusted out and fell apart because the center is metal and I used water-based glue.They were beautiful trees with decorations and working lights. This time I will not use water-based glue. Have you ever seen this happen?
It's a good thing I have the trees and the lycopodium.
Phyllisa











Caseymini said...

Grand mommy, the printer' box that is directly behind the house is a display case for all kinds of antique needlework tools that I collect. I have others. None of them are for mini tools. The sections aren't large enough for them.

Caseymini said...

Phyllisa, I have never had that happen. But then I live in AZ. We seldom have rust without trying to do so.

Blake said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I got a bag of that lycopodium from someone last year, just a sandwich-bagful- and I had NO IDEA what is was! I recently bought a few of those bottle brush trees to do this same thing too! I found my trees at Hobby Lobby in packs of 4 for $1.99 but they were on sale for half off! So they can still be found for a quarter! :D

Lucille said...

I made a Christmas tree a few years ago with lycopodium and a bottle brush tree according to one of your tutorials. It turned out very nice and fluffy! The Mystery House looks nice with the added snow and variety of trees.