Christmas Urns DIY Thrift Makeover
Today let’s take a couple of cheap thrifted urns and with a little creativity upcycle them with this Christmas urns DIY makeover.
I don’t know about you but I love when a plan comes together perfectly. And that is exactly what happened with these cheap, hard plastic urns.
I spotted these gorgeously shaped urns on a recent thrift shopping expedition. There were two of these sexy beasts and immediately I saw their Christmas potential. All they were going to need was a bit of paint, a couple of Dollar Tree Christmas trees and a trip to the grocery story.
Getting Started
Shopping at thrift stores or garage sales is a great way to find affordable Christmas decorations. You can often find holiday items for a fraction of the price you would pay brand new. Frequently these diamonds in the rough just need minor modifications. A coat of paint, a Cricut machine, or stenciling is often all they need to recreate them into high end home decor.
And that’s exactly what I did with these two cheap plastic urns. They held so much potential. The supplies needed to upcycle these Christmas urns are likely thing you already have around and the time needed to make these is almost laughable when you consider the end result.
PRO TIP: Just be sure to inspect the items carefully before you buy to make sure they’re in good condition.
Supplies You Will Need For Christmas Urns DIY
- 2 Plastic, glass, or ceramic urns
- Rustoleum White spray paint
- ArtMinds Chalk Paint in Grey Wool
- ArtMinds Chalk Paint in White
- Baking soda
- 2 Plastic cups
- Chippy paint brush
- Small paint brush
- Floral foam
- 2 Dollar Tree Christmas trees
- 2 packages of extra Christmas greenery
- Hot glue gun
- Glue sticks
- Scissors
- Wire clippers
- Rocks
- White gems
- Green gems
- Optional: mini pine cones
- Optional: faux pearl coloured berries (or any other colour that fits your decor)
How To Make These Stone Urn Christmas Trees
In all honesty, this project was super simple to do. The supplies needed where really basic and are likely things that you already have on hand. And although you may not be able to find these exact plastic urns the overall concept can be used on similar ones. Just take a look around your local thrift stores and I am sure you will stumble across something that is similar and will work just as well.
It was the shape of these urns that caught my eye. They were made of sturdy plastic and the shape just looked high end. A little special paint technique and a couple of cheap Christmas trees was all it took to upcycle these little beauties.
Step 1 Preparing
I started by giving these urns a really good cleaning. There was a fair bit of sticky residue leftover from price tags but a little bit of GooGone took care of that.
I then spray painted each of the urns with Rustoleum flat white spray paint. Make sure that you apply the spray paint with short strokes. You want to end up with a light first coat. Then keep respraying making sure to allow each coat to dry in between.
I did this until the gold colour of the urns were covered but I didn’t get too picky with this step because it would be covered later. It’s really only as an extra precaution in case some of the faux stone comes off.
Step 2 Creating The Paint
Next, I mixed equal parts dark gray paint with baking soda. You want to end up with a consistency that is much like softened ice cream.
Step 3 Painting Urns 1st Coat
Now it’s time to apply the baking soda paint. You want to cover the whole urn completely. Pounce the brush up and down so that it creates a worn, stone look… slightly stippled. Make sure that you do the top lip as well. Let dry completely.
Step 4 2nd Coat
Now you want to go in with a lighter grey colour. All you need to do is add a bit of white paint to the grey mixture and then add a bit more baking soda. Again, going for the look of soft ice cream.
Apply the second colour in a stippled and all over kind of way. Basically, you want both the dark and light grey to show. Then use your chippy brush to wipe back and forth to mix the colours and wipe away some of the stippled texture.
Step 5 Finishing The Painted Look
To finish off the look, again using your chippy brush, pounce some white chalk paint in different areas to lighten things up and to blend the colours. Wipe away any access and smooth the white paint into the grey paints. You are going for an aged stone look.
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Step 6 Tree Time
Now we get to work with the Christmas tree part of this Christmas urns DIY. Toss the base aside. You won’t be needing it for this project. Start by fluffing out the two Christmas trees.
Step 7 Get Twisted
Taking an strand of faux greenery at a time, twist it around the the stem of the tree. You’re filling in the spaces in between the original branches. As you work up the tree, use your wire clippers to cut the stems in half and use these shorter stems to fill in the top part of the tree.
Step 8 Get Your Glue On
Once you’ve filled in all the spaces you may find that you still need more. This is where the 3rd package comes in. Fold the stems in half and hot glue them to the trunk of the tree. Add this where ever you feel it needs to be fuller.
Step 9 Making It Purdy
This step is completely optional but personally I think these inexpensive trees look higher end when they are flocked so I went ahead and did that with a little bit of white chalk paint.
I then added some pearl coloured berries and some mini pine cones with a bit of hot glue.
Step 10 Grounding the Urns
To keep the tree in place stuff the bottom of the urns with what ever you can. (I used a bag of moss in each.)
Then using some hot glue, stick the tree bottom into some foam or floral foam. Place this on top of the filler and then fill in any spots around the foam with the stones. This will help keep the mini trees erect and it will weight down the bottom so they won’t tip over.
Step 11 Bling It
To cover the foam and finish the inside of the urns add some green and white glass gems. This will give it a finished look and a little sparkle.
And that’s it! Each of these Christmas tree urns cost only $5 each and yet they look like I paid a a lot for them. Love this! But let me know what you think in the comments below.
Jenny’s Finishing Thoughts On Christmas Urns DIY Thrift Makeover
Christmas time can be a very expensive time of year. So when you can find a way to achieve that desired high end look but with way less money it’s just an extra little blessing.
Turning these plastic urns into faux stone Christmas tree bases was so simple to do but the final look appears like a fortune was spent them. This is the kind of decor piece that you can use over and over again. Ya, got to love that!
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