DIY - Pinecone Wreath
I love wreaths. I first became intrigued with them five years ago when I was first married. We had our new apartment and I had free range to decorate however I wanted. Of course it had to be on a newlywed, student budget. I realized that making my own wreaths was inexpensive, creative, and fun. During the next two years I went through a wreath phase and I was constantly making them and coming up with ideas for more. One idea was to make a pinecone wreath. My husband and I gathered up a bag full of pinecones but before I made the wreath it was time to move on to our next phase of life. Our next phase lasted for two years and consisted of a lot of moving from one place to another. In the meantime, our belongings sat in a storage unit and waited. This past summer that phase ended (yippee!) and another began. We moved to North Carolina and settled in to our own place with our own belongings. It feels so good! This means I rediscovered all of my old belongings. I rediscovered a lot of forgotten clothes, treasures, WIP projects, and my bag of pinecones. (Who puts a grocery bag of pine cones into storage for a few years? Weird, right?) Winter is coming and it is the perfect time to put those pinecones to use and finally make my pinecone wreath.
MATERIALS: Wreath form, hot glue gun and glue, pinecones, white and brown paint.
DIRECTIONS: Paint the wreath form brown and let it dry. I did not think of this step until afterwards. I actually did not think of it. My sister mentioned it to me and she was right. So in the end, you can see the white wreath form beneath all my pinecones.
Glue a layer of pinecones on the outside and inside of the wreath form. Note, I did this step twice because I got to the end and realized that I did not have enough pinecones. Having collected my pinecones three years ago, I had no way to get more. The first time I did this step, I slightly layered the pinecones. Next time around, I had the pinecones in a line, butted up to each other. This took a lot less pinecones and made it possible for me to finish. Either way is great, just make sure you have a way to get more pinecones in case you run out.
Glue another layer of pinecones on top of the first layer.
Glue a final layer of pinecones on top (between the previous layers).
Paint the tips of the pinecones white and let it dry.
Make a bow using wire-rimmed ribbon.
As soon as the paint has dried, fasten the bow onto the wreath. I did this by simply stabbing the wire into the foam wreath form. The wreath is complete. Hang it on the door and enjoy the holiday season! Be sure to tag me if you make a wreath.
Have fun!
_Puku_