I am knee deep in Christmas decorations at the moment and it pretty much looks like a total disaster around here! I'm hoping to turn the corner today, you know that moment when it all starts coming together. I like to incorporate lots of natural elements into my holiday decor - fresh greens, berries and pinecones.
And this year, the pinecones went a little frosty!
We have several large pines in our yard. They actually started out as our Christmas trees many years ago. We all still marvel at how large those tress are now. If you've never bought a live tree and planted it, I highly recommend it! And we always have lots of pinecones. But with the help of Sandy's wind, this year we have more pinecones on the ground than ever! A few weeks ago, the entire yard was covered and we had to gather them just to mow the lawn. I never even got around to collecting the ones under the trees.
And this year, the pinecones went a little frosty!
We have several large pines in our yard. They actually started out as our Christmas trees many years ago. We all still marvel at how large those tress are now. If you've never bought a live tree and planted it, I highly recommend it! And we always have lots of pinecones. But with the help of Sandy's wind, this year we have more pinecones on the ground than ever! A few weeks ago, the entire yard was covered and we had to gather them just to mow the lawn. I never even got around to collecting the ones under the trees.
They were still damp from the rain, so I brought them in the house and spread them out on a sheet to dry. The best part was that the heat of the house made them open even more - a nice surprise!
Last year I gave a batch of pinecones a quick shot of spray adhesive and glittered them. They were really pretty. But I love snow, so this year I decided they needed to be a little more frosty. So first I started with paint.
I used some leftover latex paint and brushed it on with a nice wide brush - quick and easy. If you are just painting a few pinecones, a little bottle of craft paint would work just fine.
The beauty of the big bucket was that it contained the splatters (yes I'm messy) and I could tap the pinecone on the inside of the bucket to remove the excess paint and catch the drips.
Then while the paint was wet, I just sprinked the pinecone with glitter. I used a plastic bowl underneath so I could recyle the glitter that didn't stick.
This is not a project for expensive fancy glitter. This is my favorite glitter for snowy projects. It looks like little white snow crystals, plus it comes in a nifty shaker jar and is very inexpensive. I buy it at Michaels in the kid's craft section. I love this stuff!
Now doesn't that look like it just came in from a snowstorm!
Have I mentioned that I love snow?
I called this the pinecone frenzy because this is only half of them.
I had so much fun, I repeated the whole process the next day!
I've used frosty pinecones on wreaths.
And we decorated for our Elizabeth & Co. holiday open house with frosty pinecones.
And woudn't this make a nice little gift idea?
Add a cute little tag and you'd be good to go!
And of course I'm using frosty pinecones all over my house!
So what do you think? Do you want to make some frosty pinecones too? It was fun, easy and you probably already have all the supplies on hand. And if you need some pinecones, come on over!
Okay, it's back to decorating for me. Unless of course I get sidetracked by another frenzy of some sort! Have a great day!!!
I'm linking to...
Jennifer Rizzo
Six Sister's Stuff
The Gingerbread Blog
Hyphen Interiors