"Pine Cone Ornament"
This ornament idea is very inexpensive and can be made with the help of your children, who will think it's pretty cool to find ornament materials in your yard. It also seems pretty natural to use an element that is found in the type of trees (conifer) we use for Christmas.
How to make this ornament at home...
Supplies Needed:
Pine cones (can be found in your own yard, or at a nearby park), Gold Spray Paint (Wal-Mart has cans of their store brand for $1 each), Gold Glitter (can be found in any box store or hobby store), Ribbon (any box store or hobby store), Glue guns & glue sticks (any box store or hobby store), Scissors
Directions:
Step One
Spray pine cone with gold spray paint, trying to cover as much of cone as possible (I recommend that you do Steps 1 and 2 outside, due to the paint fumes and the messinesss of the glitter. I used pipe cleaners as "handles" for Steps 1 & 2, threaded through the center of the cone, so that I wouldn't get paint or glitter on my hands. The pipe cleaners can then be twisted onto a branch of any tree outside to dry--this is especially pretty if you're painting a lot of cones, as they are very pretty just drying in the tree)
Step Two
Immediately after painting, sprinkle glitter onto cone so that it will stick to the wet paint.
Step Three
Once paint is dry, attach ribbon to top of cone. To attach ribbon, cut a large piece to make the hanger loop and glue that loop to the center. Cut smaller ribbon strips to form loops around hanger loop (I used 5 small pieces). Cut a few more longer ribbon strips (I used 8) looped to attach around the bottom of the other row of ribbon loops.
* You can also skip the ribbon step and just put several of these glittery ornaments in a pretty bowl or hurricane vase to decorate your home, or leave them on your tree outside where you let them dry.
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Copyright © 2007 by Dana Fleming. All rights reserved.