Marker Monday - Eagle's Nest

I just love it when kids come up with creative ideas of their own.

Over the weekend the boys (mostly Yap) and the neighbor girl built an "eagle's nest" under the front yard pine tree.

Dried pine needles, dead grass and pinecones all piled up against a propped up limb created a wall.

 

 If it hadn't been 30 degrees outside that day their eagle nest would have been pretty cozy!

I really hope it lasts for a while. With the forecast calling for 30 mph + winds tonight I'm afraid they may wake up to see their creation blown away.  

 

Artists create land art like this and become famous! Maybe I have a budding Christo on my hands.

Turkey Day Decorations

Do you need some last minute Turkey Day decorations? Here's a few you can whip up from stuff you probably have laying around the house!


No long tedious instructions, these pictures tell their own story. Grab your glue gun and craft stash and put your kids to work. You know, kids, those little monkeys who have the day off from school. Keep em' busy until the feast is served!

Construction paper, scissors, glue

A lone knit glove, fabric, glue gun and plastic lid.

Pinecone, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, fabric, puffball and hot glue gun.

Marker Monday - Thanksgiving Garland

We've found yet another craft to put to use our pile of pinecones.....

a pinecone garland.

Yahoo and I used floral craft wire and wrapped it around each pinecone one time at intervals. After we strung it up over our living room windows we cut out leaves from construction paper and taped them between the pinecones.

Pretty festive and it didn't take long at all!

The boys and I are planning on making another for the outside of the house, minus the leaves.

We'll keep the garland up for Christmas too and take the leaves down and replace them with something else. Snowmen or snowflakes or something like that...any suggestions?

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!