I fell in love with a picture in the Ballard Designs Holiday catalog. It featured Tinsel Sticks with silver and gold mercury glass christmas decorations that were hung with simple fabric ribbon.
They staged it with a few small gold christmas tree topiaries and mercury glass candle holders.
Over the past few years my style has made a big change. It’s simplified. I’ve come to love natural elements. Simple without fuss and this simple natural vignette was something I knew I could make myself
Our Rock Your Knock Off Holiday Edition motivated me to create the look in my house
…and save big bucks!
I had most of the items I needed to make this simple vignette. My gold and silver mercury glass Ballard inspired Tinsel Collection cost $12, theirs would have set me back $178. Ouch!
Don’t mind my scribble, I got excited when I found the Tinsel Stick!
It’s easy to create these silver and gold mercury glass Christmas ornaments on a Tinsel Stick.
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Supplies needed for Tinsel Stick with mercury glass ornaments
- Sparse garland. I picked up a $1.97 garland from Wal-Mart. The thinner the better.
- Matte gold spray paint.
- Looking glass spray paint
- Fabric ribbon in gold and silver
- 21 ” stick
- Clear ornaments
- Wire cutters
Supplies needed for small topiary gold Christmas trees
- Sparse garland
- Styrofoam for the base
- Matte gold spray paint.
- Burlap
- Ribbon for the base to tie and hold the burlap
- Wire cutters
Start by spraying the branch and the garland with your gold spray paint. Next, twist them onto the branch. Easy, right?
I made my silver and gold mercury glass Christmas decorations ornaments with glass and plastic ornaments. My advice on the two…plastic works great and doesn’t shatter when it falls, which leaves one scrambling to make another one!
See my tutorial to make mercury glass ornaments. To make the matte gold mercury glass ornaments I sprayed a thin layer of Looking Glass spray paint onto an ornament, gave it about 1 minute to dry.
Then I sprayed the gold matte paint onto it and dabbed it with a damp paper towel. The paper towel moved around the gold and picked it up in some places. The Looking Glass underneath gave it a little dimension.
To me the little details count, so I aged the tops of the ornaments with a metallic brown spray paint I had.
Last, I tied the ornaments with gold and silver fabric ribbon and hung them on my branch. A few simple snowflakes look nice for contrast….not that it snows here at the beach.
We donated so many of our holiday decorations when we downsized, I feel like I’m starting from scratch sometimes! I made two of the petite gold trees for my table top vignette to fill in space and I love them!
The super sparse garland was perfect for these little gold Christmas trees too. I cut two short lengths and lined one up about 2 inches higher than the other. Twisted the two sections of garland together and trimmed them into a tree shape.
I gave them a once over with a little gold spray paint and mounted them in styrofoam wrapped with burlap. Since I had the supplies for these already, my cost on these is about .50 cents. That was a quick $23.50 savings!
To finish off my vignette I added a few candles and my mercury glass style vases that I made last year with craft paint.
I enjoyed making the Tinsel Collection inspired silver and gold mercury glass Christmas decorations. I love the challenge of a good knock off! Best of all…
It’s guilt free.
When the styles change I won’t stress that I spent a lot of money on my Christmas decor!
PIN THESE DIY TINSEL STICKS TO PINTEREST!
For more DIY holiday decor projects check out the 102 Handmade Ornaments, this DIY stocking holder, this wooden snowflake, and this rustic garland.
My project was featured at
Nancy @ Artsy Chicks Rule says
I love, love these Wendi!!! They are beeaauutiful!!! I want to make some!! 🙂
Nancy
Wendi says
Thanks so much Nancy:0 They were really simple and fast to make. I think my favorite part is the tinsel stick!
Christy @ Our Southern Home says
This is so beautiful!!! I love yours! I could so see this on my porch!!! Thanks for inspiring us!
Dria says
This is stunning I want it for my dining room! You did an incredible job!
Wendi says
Thanks so much Dria. I made this for my window originally and hung it from the light above the table for the photos. It fit the space so well I’m keeping it there. I’ll just have to make more for my windows:) This would be beautiful in your home!
Christy@Confessions of a Serial Do-it-Yourselfer says
I LOVE these! They look like vintage ornaments. I want to make a whole tree of the gold ones! LOVE them! Pinning and scheduling a share! XO
Wendi says
Thank you! I loved how the gold ones came out. So very easy and quick to make too! I think a whole tree in matte gold would be stunning and if anyone could pull it off well it woud be you! Thanks for your sweet comment & visit!
Marie@The Interior Frugalista says
Beautiful Wendi – I love a good knock off and yours definitely was one of them! I like the idea of hanging Christmas bulbs from a branch rather than from the ceiling (which I’ve seen a lot of). Gotta love the $$$ you saved on yours which is as pretty as the original. I love it when retailers come out with their Christmas catalogs – such inspiration for us DIYers. LOL I finished a knock off this week for my family room mantle. Now it’s taking everything in me not to pull out the bins and start decorating for the holidays.
P.S. Love the new look of your blog!
Wendi says
Thanks so much Marie & your spot on about the new catalogs girlfriend! Especially for us DIY gals! Thanks for the sweet words on the new blog design, we have a few tweaks left but I’m happy with the new look already:) ..now I’m off to see your knock off!
Paula@SweetPea says
Beautiful! I love the natural elements in your pretty display.
Wendi says
Thank so much Paula. I’m so into the natural elements in decorating this year. They remind me of how our parents or grandparents decorated…with what they found rather than bought.
Tami @ Curb Alert! says
How pretty Wendi! Im giggling at how you circled your inspiration, I do the same thing. There’s nothing like perusing through an actual catalog over and over for inspiration, circling the items and tagging the corners. Great job!
Wendi says
Thanks Tami! Yes, I’m extremely hard on my catalogs…and yes, I dog ear pages too! I think the fun of picking out the project is almost as much fun as the big reveal, especially in these knock off tours! Thanks for your visit:)
Jeanette says
Wendi, this is beautiful! I splurged a few years ago and bought some mercury glass ornaments on sale. They were expensive even on sale. Wish I would have thought about making them! Wonderful display! Jeanette
Wendi says
Thank you Jeanette! I love mercury glass…everything! The DIY version is just as pretty and to me guilt free when I want to change styles and trends. The display was so simple to make and filled in the photos well 🙂
Meegan says
Your mercury glass knockoffs are beautiful! I am looking forward to making my own. Thanks for all the details.
Happily pinning!
Wendi says
Meegan…thank you and thanks for sharing too! They were easy and I loved adding the matte gold mercury glass look. Thanks so much for your visit!
Vanessa says
I love this piece, Wendi! I am going to do this for sure, I have all the supplies and even the sticks. LOL, I always have branches in my garage. : )
Wendi says
Vanessa, you’ll love it! You have to promise to share a picture on my FB page when you do make one ok?? Lucky you having sticks around..I had to hunt some down until I remembered we had this old peach tree on the side of our house. It makes great smooth & straight sticks…I was getting ready to have it removed, now I may keep it just for the sticks it produces!