holiday project #6 - baker's twine and bottle brush trees

I think I've officially reached a record with my holiday projects this year!  Number 6 and I have one more to go that I think I'll even get done...

This one almost didn't happen.  I came across the idea for the mini snow globe ornaments on Pinterest (where else you ask?)... of course I immediately went to Etsy and found a seller for the little glass globes and bases but then I made the mistake of not ordering them right away and the next day, GONE!  I then spent a number of days searching and all of the sellers were in Hong Kong... with shipping times to match... and there's a reason for the phrase "slow boat to China".  Finally I found them on Etsy from this seller in California BUT I would need to order all three pieces separately but the cost was still quite reasonable at under $2.00 per globe.

I had tons of little bottle brush trees in my stash.  Green and white.  And you may notice that the tiny ones were still a bit too tall but a sharp pair of scissors solved that problem.

The little brass tops... originally I thought about spray painting them bronze like the original Pinterest ones but thought these little guys would be a pain in the neck to spray paint.

The little brass bottoms.

The cute little globes... and here you can see how the bottoms fit on.

I still had snow or diamond dust from my snow globe jars from season's past.

And I did track down glue that was meant for glass and metal... very important since I have found that hot glue doesn't always work on glass items.

First I cut off the bases of the trees to make them the right height... and you might notice that a cute little spun cotton mushroom worked it's way into the lineup of twelve.  For THIS step I did use hot glue and the trees are still sticking to their bases as we "speak".

I used a small 1/8 teaspoon and put two scoops (or 1/4 teaspoon) of snow in each globe...

Then came the hard part.  Putting a small amount of the glass/metal glue around the brass base and flipping it upside down, inserting it into the glass globe and holding it for a good 30 to 45 seconds while the glue did it's magic.  I did manage to adhere my fingers to quite a few of the bases since the glue worked it's way through the little metal filigree edges, fortunately this glue isn't quite as strong as super glue and I could get them off... but I think each and every snow globe carries my thumb print on the bottom!

I let them cure overnight so that the glue was very, very dry/cured.

Then the hardest part of all.  Gluing the little top onto the glass... in the center... without glue dripping down the sides... After the first one kept sliding down I mastered the right ratio of glue drops to keep it in place without running and slipping as well as using tweezers to place the little metal top.  Then I left them totally ALONE until the glue completely dried.

If you can find the globes with these little things on top already, I would buy those since this WAS the hardest part...

Now I was going to add really tiny little jingle bells to the tops but realized my baker's twine didn't fit through the jingle bells... so that was out but the red and aqua baker's twine was still in.  And just barely in...those little tops are meant for a jump ring so the baker's twine barely made it through the opening.

And here they are... not a baker's dozen, but a real dozen.  I think I may even cut up this egg carton for the gift giving part and wrap each one in an 'cup' with cellophane and more twine... what do you think?

And then I couldn't resist pulling my aqua ceramic egg tray out of the fridge for a photo shoot....

And show them off on the tree...

One of each...

Of course...

I'm pretty happy with the outcome of these little guys.  Now I just need to decide on the lucky 11 recipients because I'll be keeping one for myself!

I think I may be looking around for what else I can fit in these mini globes... little reindeer?  the jingle bells I couldn't use... more mushrooms? And have a second edition next year.

Of another, even dozen.

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