So I know that today is Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas to all of you, but I finished this Christmas swag and got it hung up in the dining room so I wanted to show it to you. Remember in my Rustic Holiday Decor post? I wanted to paint and distress the bells and use them in my decor.
Well, my friend Peggy was in JoAnn’s about a week ago and she texted they had the larger bells and they were on sale for $4.50, like 70% off. I could not pass up that deal. Yay!
So, I got to work. We had some white spray paint already so I used it to spray them down. I waited about an hour then rolled them over and sprayed the bottoms. I wasn’t too worried if it did not completely cover in some areas because I knew I would be distressing them anyway.
Once they were completely dry I used a sanding disc to distress them. I love my flower shaped sanding disc. It is from Lasting Impressions. I guess it is called a scuffer. I have had it forever but it still works really well.
Here they are back in their little container but all painted and distressed.
My husband used to make architectural models for a living when we lived in Sacramento and he still likes to paint miniatures for role playing games and make models as a hobby. He had purchased this swag at Target and taken a chunk out of it to use for whatever on his models. He loves to use non-standard materials and use them for something totally new. Anyway, I found this in the garage and he was done with it.
It seemed a little lopsided and sad but I thought the bells, a rustic burlap bow and some ribbon would make it into the perfect Christmas swag.
I love this burlap garland that I picked up at Michael’s. It was a roll but I have used a lot of it in my rustic decor this year. It really went a long way for the $7 I paid.
I tied a big bow using the burlap at the top then used two different red/white ribbons and the same black baker’s twine that I used on my Christmas Stockings to tie on the bells. Then I used a little bit of twine and tied that around the ribbon close to the bell.
Cute right? I think so. I hung it on the side of the armoire in my dining room and it is perfect with all of the other rustic decor.
I hope you like my Christmas swag with painted, distressed bells. It was fun and it went together really quickly after the paint was dry. Anyone could put this together.
Merry Christmas!
