a christmas love letter...mercury glass christmas trees!

dear krylon looking glass spray,
i feel like i owe you an apology. just a few weeks ago, i was cursing your name. remember my most recent attempt at mercury glass fail? well, i mean, i got a nice spray-painted dish out of it, but you really frustrated me. and i almost had given up on you. i even contemplated going back to wal-mart, even after all of my trouble there, just to take you back. *sigh.

but then i got introduced to a better technique from Anna at take the side street. her tutorial on mercury glass gave me hope. so i resolved to give you one more shot.

you see, i found these guys at a thrift store. for .55 each.
and i had this idea that the two of you might be friends. and, it turns out, i was right.
i did things a little differently from the original tutorial. my little trees are so small on the inside so after i got off some of the paint with the vinegar solution/paper towel method, i used my fingers to carefully rub away more. it worked better than using a bulky paper towel. it seemed that no matter which direction i moved the paper towel, too much paint was coming off. granted, my fingers feel pretty dry right now.  but it's a small, dry price to pay for some wicked cool looking trees on my mantel (i'm totally into trees this year, ps).

here's the final product. if you can't tell, i have a problem. every where i go now, i look for them. to be honest, i have a theory that it's better to have one, or five (at the least) but anything in the middle is lame. so that's what i did. i picked up 7 and the most i paid for one was $1...scandalous, i know. but well worth it.
here's a closeup so you can better see the mercury-ness.

 and here they are. on my mantle. looking so freaking awesome.can you believe that green one? i love him so much

 so ultimately, i paid $4. and since i already had the paint and the vinegar. we're freaking talking a total of $4. what the monkey. you just can't do that.
so thanks, krylon spray paint for being pretty great. and for letting me give you another chance. don't get me wrong, i'm not planning on taking you to the prom or anything. but i sure would (and probably will) invite you to my birthday party.
lv,
l.

things i've learned:
1. so this mercury glass thing is tricky. and it takes a bit of time. it's not one of these super fast crafts. it takes time to complete and to get better at it. but that's why i'll just keep buying these cheap little glass trees (ps. i think they used to hold candy or something in them. they have plastic lids).
2. candles and a enclosed tree don't quite go well together. so. i'm still trying to find a good flameless candle that doesn't give off that gross orange light. any suggestions? for now, the christmas lights will have to do.

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