More Christmas Tiered Tray Crafts / Faux Birchbark Tutorial / 5 Under 5$ DIY Challenge

Hello my crafty tribe, this is Artsy Maddie and let's get creative. So today I'm starting off with this wire tree shaped basket that I found at the thrift store for a dollar and it had kind of a green plastic coating on it. So I just want to make a little piece of cardboard here for the base. So this is just a piece of cardboard that's no picture on both sides. It was actually the bottom of a box that I had used for a craft. So I'm just cutting it out, cutting inside the lines a little bit for it to fit down into the box and then I'm going to spray it down with some Elmer's spray adhesive. So I just did that inside of a cardboard box to block all the overspray and then put it down inside this little basket. So you guys, I finally have solar wood flowers. I am so excited. I knew I would love them and I totally do. They are the neatest thing. They're a small business out of Utah and they are hand crafted from tapioca root. They're so light, they almost have no weight to them at all but they're just the coolest thing. I got a bag of a hundred and I got the color like they're just the natural color so you can dye these. So the hotter the water the more dye they absorb just like with fabric dyes and everything else that's fibrous sort of thing. So what I did was I have very hot tap water with some turquoise paint and then I put in a little touch of navy just to deepen it a little bit and they are so vibrant. I just love it. So much possibility. I just see so many colors from that bag so I'm very excited about those. So I'm going to be filling up this little basket with just like a random assortment of things. So I have some of this greenery that I trimmed down into small little pieces. I have the small size Christmas balls from Dollar Tree. I have this little bag of ice kind of look pine cones from Dollar Tree last year and then the bells are from Dollarama and then I'm just going to start arranging them into this little basket. So I just took my time. I tried to put a little bit of greenery in between everything and then just space them out kind of randomly but just making sure that that nice turquoise color is kind of spread out throughout the little tree here. So I just worked from the outsides towards the middle just to get everything nice and evenly balanced and just getting it all glued down with the hot glue and then I wanted this to be double-sided. I love when things are double-sided for my tiered tray because the big one that I do you see from all sides. So I found these really awesome deer or elk wood cutouts at Michael's and they were actually only $1.49 and I'm not sure why because the other wood cutouts beside it were like five times that price but there was a couple of them that were only $1.49 so if you guys happen to see these at Michael's they are a very good deal. And then I'm just wiping some drywall mud over it. You can use spackling, wood filler, just kind of anything you have that's like that sort of textured material. So I waited for that to dry and then I wiped a second coat over top of it too and I'm just trying to build up a nice texture and I'm going to try and mimic some birch bark. So I got two good layers on there and then I actually left a little bit out on a little plastic tray to dry and get kind of crumbly. So this is that little dried bit and then I'm just pushing that onto a couple spots to kind of look like the rough part of the birch bark. If you guys have ever looked closely at birch bark there's always like these dark rough spots and then I just dragged a little skewer here just to make those little divots for the lines in the birch bark. So once it was all dry I just gave it a light sand just to knock down any really high or really rough parts and then I folded the sandpaper and just got the detailed shape back. So just tucked that sandpaper right in between the grooves of the leg and the horn detail or the antler detail and just around the legs and stuff just kind of got it all back to its shape. And then I went in with an off-white paint and just dry brush some off-white paint not full coverage just very rough kind of haphazardly on there and then I waited for that to dry and then I did the same thing with white. So now I'm just going to dry brush some pure white on top of the off-white and then once that was dry I just went in and did the little lines of the birch bark with a marker. It was actually a dark gray color but I don't think it matters black dark gray whatever you have. I'm just getting those details drawn in and then I was just trying to get it as realistic as possible. So I go in so again just a very dry brush technique wiped most of the paint off the brush and then just hitting all the high parts of those little crunchy bits the little lumpy bumpy kind of parts that we built up there with that dried out drywall mud. And then I'm going to use a little bit of glaze to make my paints a little bit transparent. If you don't have glaze you can always just water down your paints as well but I just love the transparency that glaze gives so I will have a link to some glaze medium in my description box if you guys are interested. I use it for a lot of techniques so if you can kind of tell it just makes that paint dry transparent so that you're still seeing all those colors come through the paint. So just working those colors up like kind of building them up on those little rough spots on the birch bark and then just those little bits of the caramel tan color just on the actual bark part not the rough part just giving it lots of detail. So then once it was all done I'm going to be putting him onto the back side of this little basket so just like for the long-term hold I'm doing the E6000 just because there is that plastic coating on it so I know the hot glue isn't definitely not going to be a long-term hold but just using them both to get it well secured on there and then I just went in for some detail with some little sprigs of greenery. This is actually from a Christmas tree that I took apart over the summer just an old Christmas tree that someone was giving away and I took it all apart in my backyard and now I have an endless supply of greenery and then went in with those little iced pine cones and some little styrofoam balls just for the added details and then I have these little star ornaments these are from dollarama but just any these are just some plastic stars I thought they'd be a little bit more durable but you can also just use the foam stars from the dollar tree just kind of whatever you have. So I got this all secured into the top of the basket just with some hot glue and then I'm going to show you guys my snow paint technique just in case you haven't seen it before. So I just mix some shaving cream this is just dollar tree shaving cream with a little bit of white glue to bind everything and also just some white acrylic paint and just get it mixed together really well and it gives you this nice fluffy snowy texture. So just spend a couple minutes like stirring it all together you'll lose a little bit of the fluffiness but it still kind of keeps that airiness about it. So then I'm just going in and just lightly letting it set on all that greenery and the edges anywhere where the snow would fall and on top of the star just anywhere where the snow would hit it and then I just got it turned around and just same thing on the other side just try and think like falling still falling snow just anywhere it would rest and here is the completed little Christmas tree. I am so excited today's video is actually part of the five for under sorry five for five challenge five for under five challenge I believe is what it's called here and I love this it's so easy to remember it's the fifth of each month at 5 Eastern Standard Time and the hosts are always Missy from the Crafty Cove as well as Emily from Farm Charm Chic and then our co-host this month is actually Amanda from Six Kids in a Glue Gun. These are all wonderfully talented ladies that do lots of farmhouse DIYs so I will have a link to all of their channels in my description box that you can check out as well as a link to the playlist so this is all going to be Christmas tiered tray ideas so a whole playlist full of inspiration for your tiered trays and then moving on here I got this little tree it was a blue dot so at this one thrift store that I go to they just put stickers on things and I want to say that blue dot means 75 cents so it was definitely under a dollar though and it just kind of had that 80s look with the gold line around it so I'm just going to try and update it a little bit so I went in with some metallic silver spray paint and I was just showing you how I did the underside of it because it was a little awkward so I just put it in that styrofoam cup with the bottom down so I got it painted all silver and then you can see here I'm just spraying white so white spray paint directly down and no other direction just directly down as if it were snow and it fell on the gray spray paint on the silver spray paint and then this little gnome he's from Dollar Tree I gave him a coat of the silver spray paint as well and then I just went in to add some details so I gave him like a fair skin nose that took a couple coats actually three coats I think just to get good coverage and then I just did his little mittens and his little booties and some black acrylic paint and then went in and used that snow paint again to give him a nice soft textured beard so that took a couple coats as well and then I just wanted to give him some more added detail so I did a little brim around the top of his hat there or the bottom of his hat I should say so this little guy is also from Dollar Tree and he's cute but just doesn't really go with my decor so I pulled off those fabric hanging legs he's supposed to like sit on the edge of his shelf and then I just sanded down any of the leftover glue filled the little holes up with some drywall filler some crack what do you call it spackle whatever you have to to fill in and let it dry for a while and then just sanded it all down smooth and then just gave it a wipe just to make sure all that dust was gone and I believe I gave it a little bit of just regular paint just to seal it in as well and then I took him outside and spray painted him with the metallic turquoise color and then so same thing I'm just going in with some white acrylic paint just to get his beard nice and bright and just to make his nose nice and bright as well I go over that with a fair skin color again as well and then just for that little added detail of the tree on the side I just went in with some nail polish just to get that nice metallic-y sheen as well so here is that tree finish and there's actually a little hole in the bottom for a little light so I just put in a little led battery operated light and then there's the two little gnomes I've been teasing my boys that that's them a little short shorter gnome and a taller gnome although neither one of them is really short and then I found this super super cute little mini I don't even know what to call it like a little mini metal crate at the thrift store and I gave that a coat of silver the silver metallic spray paint and then I just re-stained that little dowel just so it was a little bit of a deeper color just mix some burnt umber with a touch of black acrylic and then just watered it down then on top of this silver metallic spray paint I'm just going to give it kind of a little bit of distressing like faux distressing so I went in with some gunmetal gray from folk art and just kind of hit some of the edges just randomly like as if it had a little bit of corrosion on the edges and then I had a really dark silver nail polish as well and I just used that along you know just randomly on the edges as well just to kind of look like there's a little bit of metal corrosion happening and then once that was all done I just cut out a little piece of floral foam just to fit nicely inside there and then just some more greenery and for this greenery because I had cut them in such small little pieces I just wanted them to look more natural so I just rounded out the ends of them just trimming them down so that they have a more natural tip to them and then I wanted to make a little mini snowman so I had two foam balls that were perfect and then I just used the smooth one of those dollar tree ornaments the little mini one and then I'm just getting it all glued together here and doing it as a pick so I just used a skewer a little wooden skewer up through the bottom two balls just so that I'll be able to poke him into that floral foam and then I just painted him all with that same snowy paint so just using up the rest of that snow paint and then I'm going to use the some more of it on just the tips of all this greenery here so I did that before I put it down into the little crate there and then I'm going to use some more of the solo wood flowers because they're just so beautiful and I could get them that nice bright turquoise that I love so I just made some more of those and put those onto some wooden skewers as well just so they have stems to put down into the floral foam and I just watered down some green paint for those skewers as well just so they look more like stems and then I just tried to put them in on a little bit of an angle so that I'd be able to see them nicely from the front of the box so I knew I wanted that little snowman to go in the center so just trying to get everything nice and evenly balanced and so that it would look like look nice from all directions so then this other greenery is from Dollar Tree and I just took one piece of that and cut it into two and then just put a little bit of snow on that as well I believe maybe not I might have just left it I guess with the silver on it so then these little styrofoam snowflakes are also from Dollar Tree and I just painted a couple more of those little green skewers just so that they could become little tiny picks as well and just go right down into that floral foam sorry about all the paint in my nails hopefully you guys can excuse it and and know that it's obvious why it's there all right and then for the little snowman's nose I am just using a wooden skewer and I just sanded the edge so it's a little bit rounded I didn't want it as pointy as the pointed end of the skewer so I just did a less severe sand on the other end the flat end and then just used some tacky glue and got it poked in for his little nose and then I finally found some black nail polish so what I'm doing here is just painting two little pin heads and just have them in some styrofoam to dry and then for his little nose I just painted it with some orange folk art paint nice and pigmented so you only need one coat you usually only do when you're using the folk art stuff and then for his mouth I am just drawing in a cute little smile just a little pebble smile and then I cut down those little pin heads just so that they were shorter and that they didn't have that really sharp edge just with a pair of needle nose pliers and then just got them poked in evenly to be his little like just to look like little stone eyes and then I thought he needed a cute little scarf so I just trimmed down a little strip of felt so they sell this felt at Dollar Tree as well and there's the little tiny snowman everything tiny is so cute so I just got him situated down there in the center of the foam and he just fit right in there perfectly you guys will have to let me know are you obsessed with solar wood flowers I don't know how I've survived this long without them it's so fun I'm going to be able to make whatever color flower that I want so this next one so he's an orange sticker I want to say he was only 25 cents I'm pretty sure that's what he was so obviously very kind of outdated with his 80s colors but we're going to give him a little quick update so I went in with some white spray paint and just got a nice coat so he's nice and fresh and white again all over his face and the bottom and then for the stripe on his hat I just went in with some nice turquoise color nail polish just to get that nice metallic-y sheen and also did the little stripes on his scarf and then for the black I hadn't found the black nail polish yet so I actually just went in with some black acrylic paint and then once that was all dry I think I did two coats of that once it was all dry I'm going to go in with some top coat that you'll see in a second here as well so again just that beautiful folk art orange only one coat because it has so much pigment so here is that top coat onto the black just to get it nice and shiny like the rest of him and then I just used a oil paint sharpie for his eyes just so they had a little a little bit of sheen to them as well and then I just went in with a fine point sharpie for his mouth so just super carefully it was really fairly easy though there was like a little indentation for his mouth anyway I just thought he had such a cute little face he just needed to be rescued I'm sorry I forgot to I must have forgot to hit record with the little decoration part on his hat but hopefully you guys can tell just from all the other crafts we made it was just two little pieces of greenery a little iced pine cone and then just some little foam balls so on to the last craft here this is from Dollar Tree one of those little wooden light up um I don't know what you call it like a little tea light kind of sign so I just thought we would paint this all up with some nail polishes and get some nice sheen on it so I just went over all the places that are holes so anywhere that there's like a hole against it I tried to get some paint on that first and you'll see why in a second here so just going in anywhere where there's going to be a hole underneath so this is a coffee filter and I'm just trying to close the whole thing and if you guys saw my fall video I did this with an apple as well like a little octagon that I turned into an apple or sorry a hexagon I guess it was anyway we're just um so what I did was trace out the coffee filter on top there and then you just slowly trim it down just so you can get it all into place there so once that's all fit in there nicely and all tucked down then I'm just going to be closing in the sides of it so I actually did that with some little coffee stir sticks and just cut them all down to size I just do it as I go because the sizes can vary a little bit these are from Dollar Tree they're not like like perfection when they're made so you kind of have to fiddle with them a little bit and just cut the sticks down as you go but it just takes a little bit of patience I got them all glued in with some wood glue and just some little hot glue for the quick hold base now I'm just going to paint the body of the car so I just did it in that nice turquoise color it's kind of a nice fun project I think if you did the side part then I think kids would really like obviously they love painting stuff like this so kind of a fun little project to do so for the top because it was so finicky I just went in and painted that all separately and just kind of went straight across the top so to fill that in I'm just again using just some little bits of greenery some of those little iced pine cones and just some little foam balls from a little pick that I had and the top parts the little gifts are all painted with just a combination of the turquoise paint and some nail polish so I thought it turned out pretty cute it looks pretty cute at night all lit up as well so as always just a huge thank you thank you so much for coming by and watching my video today and hopefully I've been able to inspire you to come up with some of your own little tiered tray creations or just some mini crafts it's always fun if you're not part of my crafty tribe if you haven't subscribed to my channel yet just to let you know it's free and it just helps you there's a little notification bell as well that you can choose and it will let you know when I've posted a new video I'm not on a regular posting schedule yet just having fun being part of challenges and just some random videos that I post as well it'll let you know about those be sure to check out that playlist I will leave a link in the description box as well as in the comments just a whole playlist of tiered tray crafts so you're sure to find lots of inspiration if you like those white doily trees to the left those are actually from a previous mystery box video that I did and I can leave a link to that in the description box as well it comes with a free pattern a free printable that you can use to cut out your doilies as well if you're wanting to make those and just again thank you guys so much thank you for always coming back and watching videos it means the world have a great day we'll see you soon