Marker Monday - Pinecone Wreath

HA! I found another project for all those pine cones in my front yard.

 (Hmmm...is pine cones one word or two? I'll just type it both ways so I'm right!)

A Pinecone Wreath!

I made one of these years ago but it's packed away with my Christmas decorations.

It was easier to make another than find that one!

Start off with a wire coat hanger and bunches of pinecones. Soak the pinecones in water overnight. Yahoo came in "hand"y for this project :P

The pinecone on the left is dry and the one on the right has been soaked. In this case, the wet pinecone tightened up. I'm not sure if all kinds of pinecones will do this or not.

Use the pliers to cut the hook off your hanger then shape it into a circle.

With a butter knife, or something similar, pry the pine wedges apart. What are those things on a pinecone called anyway?

Then slide the coat hanger between the wedges. The pinecones will slide around the hanger but will become more firmly set in place once they dry out.

Once your wreath is full you should probably let it dry for a day or two before continuing to the next step. But I was impatient and wanted to get this done so I went on while the pinecones were still wet, which resulted in my wreath falling apart three days later. Warning: WAIT for your pinecones to dry! Have more patience than me!!

Now, lay it on a piece of cardboard and roughlytrace the inside and outside of the wreath.

Then cut the cardboard in a circle, a width that will be hidden behind the pinecones. This circle is roughly 1 1/2" wide.

With a hot glue gun, attach the cardboard to the pinecones. This will make the whole thing more stable and sturdier for hanging and storage. I also put glue between the pinecones' wedges where the wire hanger was to add more stability. There's no such thing as too much glue!! Fire away baby!

Now that you have a sturdy, DRY wreath...(mine obviously wasn't dry)...cut out some leaves from felt....

....add some embroideried accents....

...and hot glue onto the finished wreath!

I'd guess this would take a couple hours to complete without counting soaking and drying times. Hope yours turned out better than mine did! Half of mine is laying on the floor because I didn't wait for it to dry. I'm still waiting for God to grant me patience!