Christmas Glass Block With Mesh

by Julie@Cut Off in the Keweenaw

Make a beautiful gift or a lighted addition to your Christmas decor with a glass block and fabric mesh. I know people have been decorating glass blocks for many years now, but I somehow missed the fad when it first started. When I saw some glass blocks made specifically for decorating on sale at Menards earlier this year, I snapped one up and thought I should finally decorate one of my own.

With no specific plan in mind, I browsed the Christmas section of Hobby Lobby - hoping for inspiration. I knew I needed some lights, so those went into my shopping cart first.

When I saw this package of Dazzle Drape - a fabric mesh garland - I knew I found my inspiration. The color I chose is hard to describe. It's sort of bronze with metallic fibers in it.

I then spotted this beautiful twine garland with iridescent beads, and I also picked up a burlap poinsettia pick in the Christmas floral aisle.

My original thought was to wrap the Dazzle Drape around the string of lights and stuff it into the block. However, when I actually tried it, I wasn't impressed with the way it looked. The lights were too close together in some areas, and the mesh was too thick in some areas. Not gonna fly. Time for plan B. I folded the mesh (tripled) and wrapped the glass block like a present using small dabs of hot glue to hold it to the glass in just a few key spots.

Next, I wrapped the twine garland around the block - securing the ends with hot glue. I also chose to wrap the short sides to cover the seams. This made the block attractive from all angles to give me more than one display option.

I then stuffed the lights into the block. The short side of the block with the opening (where the light cord comes out) is only partially wrapped in fabric mesh and garland. I'm using that end as the bottom of the block in my display this year. Lastly, I removed the stem from the burlap poinsettia and attached the poinsettia to the block with hot glue.

That's it - with the mini lights off. . .

and on.

Best of all - I didn't need all the Dazzle Drape or the twine garland. I used the leftovers for a super quick Christmas project that I'll share next on my blog.