Bottle Brush Trees

So a friend of mine, Leslie, posted a photo of her bleached bottle brush trees on Instagram. I had heard of doing this, and had done a little research myself, but seeing it in person convinced me that I could try it. I am so glad that I did! I love the results, and wanted to share them with you, and how I did it. I found a big bag of the dark green bottle brush trees at Michael's. They are near the tiny town displays. Be sure to print off your Michael's coupon if they are not on sale. The big bag of them is $21.99, not on sale. I think they have a 50% coupon this week. :)
Here are the steps I used. I poured a bottle of household bleach in our utility sink in the garage. I did it out there, one to keep the mess out there, and the smell is pretty strong. I added about 1 cup of water to the mixture. The stronger the mixture the faster the results. Put some gloves on, then put the trees in the mixture, and work them around, getting all the color off them. It goes pretty quickly. Once I got out all the color, and they were a creamy white, I rinsed them all in the sink with soapy water. I then brought them in the house, and dried them off. Once they are dry, then you can dye them. I mixed my Wilton food coloring with water in large bowls. A little goes a long way. If you want more pastel colors then I wouldn't use a lot. If you want more vibrant colors, then add some more food coloring. The colors I used were Pink Rose, and then I mixed Leaf Green and Sky Blue to get the aqua color. I also added about 2 tsp. of salt to the water mixture. I found that the pink took really quickly. Just a quick dip in the water and it was changed. I had to let the aqua soak a little longer. I decided to keep some of the trees the bleached white. And there you have it! Really easy, and I was happy to have my son Noah helping me with the coloring process. You could also add some glitter, which I think would be pretty. I think I may glitter the bases. Good luck with your project and if you are on Instagram I'd love for you to tag me in a photo of the trees you make. :)
XO~Gretchen