Christmas Card Display with Glittered Branches

For years I’ve been trying to find just the right way to display all those Christmas cards I get in the mail each year.  Mom always used to tape them to the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree but one of the drawbacks of an open floor plan house is that you don’t actually have very many walls….Hmm.  So last year I decided to utilize the pantry door and just cover the space with all the cards and pictures.  It looked great!  I got to see them everyday, they didn’t get too much wear and tear and it was easy to grow organically as cards came in the mail.

And then I went to take down the cards.  And hey, you know the best way to remove paint from doors, it’s masking tape.  Awesome.

Nothing like repainting your pantry door at 6am before you head to work so it will be dry when you get home and company walks in the door.

It’s never quite looked the same.

So I’m NOT going to be utilizing the pantry door this year.  Back to square one.

I saw this interesting display on Pinterest (taken from Martha no less) and thought it looked pretty cool.  

No tape, no paint removal.  I’m liking this plan.

But I wasn’t really feeling the natural color of the branches.  Yes, that’s right, unbelievably in this season of excess, I decided I needed to step it up.  Why just have branches when you can have gold branches?  And really, for that matter, why have gold branches when you can have gold GLITTER branches?  Right?  I know you hear me.

Seeing as I don’t have an entire forrest in my backyard like Martha Stewart, I went to the Hobby Lobby (where naturals were 50% off) and picked up two packages of Salt Cedar Tips.  These seemed to be the branches that had the most twists and turns.  I also picked up the the biggest jug o’ glitter ever.  Are you surprised that all the smaller sizes were sold out?  I figured I really love glitter so this isn’t hardship for me (and I had a coupon).  The last item on the shopping list was a $5 set of shatter proof ornaments from Target – in gold (of course).

I’ve got all the other supplies I needed for this project: Gold paint, spray adhesive, a large vase, ribbon for hanging cards and drop cloths.  

I set to work spray painting the branches gold.

I then took my handy spray adhesive and coated each branch.

and then sprinkled generously with glitter. 

Oh yeah, I liked the effect and as a bonus, glitter got everywhere.  Welcome to the holiday season. 

I shook off the excess (which is really a joke because every time you touch these branches, glitter comes off.) and arranged them in my vase.  I placed the ornaments in the bottom of my vase to hold the branches in place.  It was really starting to look good now! 

All I needed was Christmas cards.

Time passes.  Apparently, not all my friends are psychopaths like me who get their Christmas Cards done on Thanksgiving…. I pass the time by admiring the lovely branches 

Christmas cards took forever to arrive, but now the landslide is coming my way!  I feel sure of it.  At least it’s enough to take a picture and show you what it looks like: 

–Martta

PS – actual amount of glitter used in this project barely made a dent in the jug o’ glitter.  Look for more sparkly projects in the future as I try to work through my supply.

UPDATE: It’s been a bonanza of cards and I thought I’d include a picture of what this tree looks like at the end of the season 

It’s ginormous….there might have to be multiple card vessels with branches next year! 

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