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FAUX BIRCH FINISH FOR DOLLAR STORE ORNAMENTS

November 18, 2016 by madincrafts 5 Comments

how-to-fake-a-birch-finish-in-three-steps

I recently did a Facebook Live video where I shared my haul of Christmas goodies from Dollar Tree.  If you didn’t catch live, you can watch it here on YouTube.  Among all the goodies, were a trio of woodsy snowflake ornaments.  I liked the idea of snowflakes being made out of birch twigs, but the finish on the dollar store ornament was lacking.  I decided to try a little faux finish experiment, and I am really happy with how I was able to get a faux birch finish in just a few steps.

taken-apart

I started out by taking the dollar store ornament apart.  The elements were held together with twisty wires, so it was very easy to do.

apply-a-brown-base-coat

You can see from this picture that the dollar store version of a birch finish just makes it look like the snowflake has been playing in the mud.  To give it a more realistic finish, I started by coating the plastic snowflake in a coppery brown acrylic paint.  I learned the hard way that you should really keep the hanging ribbon on the ornament to avoid having to handle the ornament while you are painting.

apply-crackle-medium

After the paint had dried, I applied a coat of crackle medium.  Crackle medium is a clear gel that you use as a base coat for other paint colors.  The medium causes the top coat of paint to crackle as it dries.  

before-and-after-faux-finish

After the crackle finish had fully dried, I added a coat of satin white acrylic paint.  It’s important that you use satin finish so that the finished ornament looks like matte birch bark.  Since acrylic paint dries so quickly, I could actually see the crackle medium working in real time.  The brown base coat peeked through the cracks to give the snowflakes a much more realistic-looking birch finish.  You can contrast the unpainted ornament on the left with the painted ornament on the right.

put-ornament-back-together

I reassembled the ornaments and wired everything back into place.

finished-faux-birch-ornaments

It’s definitely a detail that not everyone will notice, but I think the ornaments look MUCH better with the faux finish paint job.

diy-birch-finish

Now that I know how easy this technique is, I am looking for other Christmas projects to use this faux birch finish on.  What do you think, was the paint job worth the effort?

These are all affiliate links, if you make a purchase (of anything on Amazon, not just these items) after clicking through, I will earn a small commission.  Ads and affiliate links are the way I am able to keep this website running and to offer you free tutorials all year long.  Thank you so much for supporting me and Mad in Crafts!

  • dollar store ornaments
  • copper craft paint
  • crackle medium
  • satin white craft paint
  • paintbrushes

Check out these other ornament tutorials:

SIMPLEOMBREORNAMENTS_thumb.png

SIMPLE OMBRE ORNAMENTS

10-minute-sequin-snow-globe-ornament

SEQUIN SNOW GLOBE ORNAMENT

Filed Under: Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Ornaments Tagged With: affiliate, birch, Christmas, Christmas decorations, christmas ornament, dollar store, faux finish, tutorial

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Comments

  1. Lyndsey says

    December 3, 2016 at 10:18 pm

    Yes, they look so much better! Now I want to head out to the craft store to get me some crackle medium and the dollar store to make my own! Thanks for sharing =0)

    Reply

Trackbacks

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  2. 25 Farmhouse Style DIY Ornaments - Honeybear Lane says:
    November 13, 2017 at 11:54 am

    […] Faux Birch Finish Dollar Store Ornaments from Mad in […]

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  3. CORNSTARCH DOUGH ORNAMENTS - Mad in Crafts says:
    October 3, 2018 at 12:25 pm

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