Make Your Own Pine Cone Holiday Ornament

Now is the time to gather up those pesky pine cones that seem to be dropping off the trees in your backyard or wooded area where there is a grove of pine trees.

Small, medium and large pine cones can be made into ornaments to hang on your tree.

Gather up about 20 to 30 different size pine cones. Let them dry so that the pitch is dry and hard on them-approximately 1-2 weeks inside your home. You can lay them out in a box top or tray and let the warm heat in your home take its course and dry them out.

Once the pitch is dry-items you will need from your scrap basket or craft supplies are:

(1) Pieces of strip fabric or jute rope approximately 6 inches long-holiday colors or your favorite color fabric for your trees color theme are great ideas for hangers for the pine cone ornaments.

(2) Craft glue or tacky glue (Aileen's tacky glue works great and drys clear on any project)
(3) A stiff craft brush -1/2 inch brush is good for this project
(4) A 2 oz. bottle of white acrylic paint
(5) A 2 oz bottle of silver and/or gold acrylic paint
(6) Wax paper to place the pine cones on after you have painted them
(7) A paper plate to squeeze out the paint onto

Directions:

Squeeze a small amount of the white, gold or silver paint onto the paper plate. Dip the stiff brush into the paint and holding the pine cone by its stem, pull your brush from the top to the bottom of the pine cone-do this all away around the pine cone-doing this will leave paint on the ends of each part of the pine cone so that it looks like snow or gold / silver just tipped the ends. ( You can use any color paint to match your other ornaments, but white gives the appearance of snow and the outdoors.

Lay each cone that you have done onto the wax paper and let them dry overnight-acrylic paints usually dry within 1 to 2 hours, but I like to paint the tips and let them dry overnight.

When they are dry-using your fabric and the fabric glue, glue or hot glue the hanger to the top of the cone on either side of the stem for your hanger.
Let these dry overnight as well to make sure the glue is dry or the hot glue is dry and clear and has hardened.

You can embellish your ornaments at the top near the hanger by gluing on small silver or gold bells, colorful rhinestones, buttons or other items you may have in your craft basket. Small birds ( cardinals) can be found at your local craft supply store and they can be hot glued to the top of the pine cones.

When your ornaments are dry and you have embellished them with beads, bells, bows, etc. Hang them on your Holiday Tree-you can also hang these outside on your shrubbery with outdoor lights. They can be given as gifts to co-workers, friends and neighbors.

This is a simple and easy way to make a gift for a friend and the cost is minimal-around $10.00 depending on what you wish to embellish your ornament with.

I like to put them all into a basket with holly or greenery and use it for a centerpiece for my dinner table. They can also be placed on a mantle with greenery to give your room a outdoorsy look and back to nature look. Place a few in a basket with a large holiday bow and a few drops of pine scented oil and place them in your guest bathroom for a holiday flair. They can be used many different ways-I bet if you thought hard enough you could come up with more great ideas for their placement in and around your home.

Happy Holidays Everyone