Bleached Sweet Gum Balls

I know I am usually bleaching bottle brush trees, but this time I bleached sweet gum balls.

I was inspired by Gail at Purple Hues and Me when last fall she bleached pine cones. Read all about Gail's pine cones here.

I promptly went and collected a bag of sweet gum balls and put them in a jar of bleach.

I did not have any brown ones left to show you, but most of you know what a sweet gum ball looks like.

I had used them in an art piece.

All of them painted, but the smashed one in the corner.

That one is real.

I love the brown ones for fall decor so I knew I would love the bleached ones.

I had planned to make glittery Christmas ornaments with them, but they took forever (more than three days is forever to me!) to bleach.

I rinsed them off and stuck them in a basket on the patio.

Never even thought of them until we were cleaning out the planters, and Chucks said, "Look at these mutant sweet gum balls!"

Oh, that's where they went!

Now they seemed to be delightful and beautiful to me.

A found treasure.

I put them in a glass vase with the Easter lambs and love them.

Bleached sweet gum balls.

Hey, I wonder if they can be dyed?

Now that's an idea!

See y'all!

Use this discount code to receive 10% off your purchase at the Distressed Donna Etsy store:

DISTRESSEDDONNA14

SHOP HERE!