Christmas Mantel Decor: Glittered Glass Christmas Trees

How to decorate a Christmas mantel or table top using glass Christmas tree jars and glitter.

I am slowly getting my house decked for the holidays starting with my Christmas mantel decor.  I am keeping the decorations simple – I like simple, but elegant and a bit old-fashioned. It gives the house a bit more of a nostalgic feel and that to me is one of the most important parts of the holidays – the memories and traditions of a family at Christmastime.

For my Christmas mantel decor for my dining room, I decided to use turquoise as the accent color this year so the room flows better into the kitchen where I recently added the color in the way of banquette pillows.

On the wall, I updated a chalkboard and layered a vintage frame I found at a yard sale and a wreath in front of it.   I also placed a collection of glass tree candy jars I found at the thrift store along the mantel. Oh! and I can’t forget – lots of glitter.

While thrifting with my buddy, Shannon from MadiganMade over the summer, I was in search of these glass Christmas tree candy jars. They sell one size at Walmart, but I wanted all different sizes, so we went hunting and found most of them in one day –at the local Habitat ReStore. They were $1 a piece.  Last Christmas, Shannon posted about how to paint them to look like Milk Glass.   They provide a versatile canvas to add your own style.

Do you remember my post last January where I wrote about my word for the year? My word was “Edit”. I have been pretty successful editing down all year long so far and that includes Christmas decorations. I am only keeping the decorations that my family and I love or that bring us joy or a happy memory.

These make me happy. They are simple, old-fashioned, and a bit modern at the same time.   I placed battery operated tea lights inside each jar.

At night they take on a dreamy glow. I could not get a good photo of them in the dark. The tea lights in the photos ended up looking fluorescent and they don’t look like that at all when lit.   They look warm and glowing – and of course – glittery and nostalgic for me.

I saw a chalkboard like this last year on Pinterest and pinned it to do this year.  Keeping it simple instead of something more elaborate and time consuming right now when life starts getting a bit over-scheduled and hectic.

How to Make a Simple Boxwood Wreath

I made the wreath using a wire wreath form. I simply tied sprigs of boxwood all around it with florist wire. I wired a few jingle bells on also – as Christmas would not be Christmas without a few jingle bells, right?

I would like to find a preserved boxwood wreath. If anyone knows of a good resource for one – please share it in the comments.  Since I don’t have any cedar growing in my yard, I bought a banded bunch at Home Depot for $4.97 to lay across the mantel.

No fuss for the chandelier – just some boxwood wrapped around it to make it look a little special for the holidays.

How to Add Glitter to Glass Christmas Tree Jars

I had taken photos to show you how to glitter the glass jars, but my external hard drive where I stored them is acting up and I can’t access them.  I snipped this one from a rogue thumbnail image that showed up in my picture file.   It is a little blurry, but shows what the glass jars looked like before they were covered with glitter.

supplies needed:

• Glass jars
• White glue – do not use fast drying glue – dries too fast before you can get the glitter on evenly. Basic white glue or tacky glue works the best.
• Glitter
• 1-inch wide paint brush
• Cardboard box lid – keeps glitter from getting all over and makes it easy to put the excess glitter back into the glitter container.
• Battery-operated tealights

Clean and dry jars.  The glitter is on the outside of these jars – not the inside.  Place one hand in the jar and brush the glue evenly all over the outside of the jar – do it as quickly as you can.  Once the jar is covered with glue, hold it over an open cardboard box and sprinkle glitter all over it. Turn it all different ways to make sure you get glitter evenly all over the jar.  Place on a surface to dry. Repeat for the glass top.   When dry, place a tealight inside.  Pour all the excess glitter in the box back into your glitter container.

I added a little glitter to the white vintage frame, too.  Christmas + Glitter = Simply Festive.

I still have some more decorating to do and will show you more in my next few posts.   Until then, I hope you are enjoying the holiday season so far and are not experiencing too much frazzle dazzle – only…

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