DIY Pinecone and Wood Slice Wreath Under $10

I'm so excited about how my new pine cone wreath turned out! It's classy, it's festive, and it's CHEAP... which is always a plus. :)

I was in desperate need of a new wreath. You see, I was using this terribly outdated, cheap-looking wreath that looked very tired. Then I moved. Guess what didn't make it to the new house... the old wreath! Hooray!!!

But anyone who's moved also knows that moving can get very expensive. Since my wallet is still recovering from this last move, I knew whatever I got would have to be super budget friendly.

I know I said it was a $10 wreath, but it was actually cheaper than that for me. Cool right?  When I realized I could make this wreath with stuff I had lying around, I was soooooo excited!

Want to know how much it actually cost me?

• Wreath Form: $1
  You can get them from Dollar Tree... or yard sales, or thrift stores, or....
• Wire and Wire Cutters: Free
  I had wire on hand, but you could also use the floral wire from the dollar store.
• Pine Cones: Free
  My sister's tree sheds amazingly large pine cones that were fabulous for this project. She was happy to have someone help clean up her yard too. ;)
• White Spray Paint: Free
  I just used the left over paint from another project. But the 99 cent white spray paint from Home Depot would more than do the job.
  
• Wood Slices: Free
  I cut up a branch that fell off a tree in the backyard. However, I've seen round wood slice gift tags in the dollar section at Target. They have chalkboard on one side, but if you turn them over they're blank. Perfect!
• Red Acrylic Paint and Paint Brush: Free
  The brush came from my crafting stash. The red paint was actually borrowed, and I hardly used any at all!
• Hot Glue Gun: FreeI already had it, of course.
• Hot Glue Sticks: $1
  I was out of glue, but the dollar store had my back. ;)

In the end, it actually only cost me a whopping $2. Yes, I said $2 whole dollars. If I had to go buy the supplies today it would cost me right around $10 bucks. So no matter how you look at it, this is a pretty inexpensive wreath.

Yessss!

So here's the low down on how to make your own charming pine cone wreath.

Supplies and Tools:

1. 14" wire wreath form
2. Wire
3. About 30 large pine cones 
4. White spray paint
5. 12 wood slices (or a branch and a saw)The dollar spot section at Target has a package of wood slice gift tags in a package of 6, which makes a great substitute if you don't want to cut your own slices. Just turn the chalkboard side over and you have a blank piece of wood!
   
6. Red acrylic paint 
7. Paint brush
8. Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Step 1: Lay It Out

I laid out my pine cones around the wreath frame just to make sure I had everything exactly where it looked best. I realized that my bigger pine cones looked better on the inside and my smaller pine cones did better around the outside edge.

Oh, and make sure your pine cones aren't too brittle. They won't stand up to the wiring (or the test of time for that matter).

*HERE'S A TIP: If your pine cones are closed up or wet, preheat your oven to 300 degrees Farenheit. Put your pine cones on a foil lined cookie sheet and set them in the oven. Some will dry out and bloom in 30 minutes. Others can take a couple hours, so just keep checking on them until they're done. Here are more detailed instructions on how to dry out, bloom and debug your pine cones.

Step 2: Get Wiring!

Stretch out a long piece of wire and cut it off. You want it long enough to wrap around the bottom portion of a couple pine cones and the wreath form.

I used 2-3 feet of wire at a time. Any more than that gets all tangled and messy.

Wrap part of the wire around the pine cone, then tie it onto the wreath form.

Tie another pine cone with the same wire keeping them good and snug, then back to the wreath form. When the wire gets too short to tie again, get another 2-3 feet piece of wire and repeat the process.

Don't worry about the straggler wire. And don't worry about wobbly pine cones either. We take care of those in the next step.

Just make sure the wire is good and snug.

Step 3: Glue That Baby

Now that you're done wiring those pine cones in place, it's time to make your final adjustments and glue them exactly where you want them to stay.

I turned my wreath face down and hot glued any piece touching the wreath form. That keeps them from wobbling. I also glued some of the pine cones to each other where there wasn't enough surface area touching the form. Just be careful not to get blobs in the front.

Then just twist up or cut any loose wires on the back of your wreath.

Step 4: Let It Snow

Get your can of white spray paint, shake it like a Polaroid picture, and spray your pine cones until they are as white as you like. I sprayed it from several angles to get them a little more on the white side.

It makes the pine cones look like they just got a fresh dusting of snow. So pretty!

Step 5: Add Your Berries

What berries? Oh yeah, you have to make them.

Get Your Wood Slices

If you're bought ready-made wood slices or ornaments, go ahead and skip to the painting.

If you're making your own, this is where you get out your saw and branch. My branch was about 2 inches in diameter.

Slice off about 12 rounds of wood. It doesn't matter how thick you cut them - mine were between 1/4 an inch to 3/4 an inch deep. You can sand them too if you like, but I prefer the rough look under the paint. :)

I did pick off the left over bark around the edges though. Most of it was falling off already.

Paint Them Red

When you're done, paint the middle of your wood slices red. I left a bit of the wood showing around the edges because I liked the look, but do what you like.

Attach 'Em

Just hot glue them wherever you want! I covered a few places where the pine cones broke or where there were huge globs of hot glue.

All Done?

If you wanted to cover the uglies in the back, you could always use some gray felt, but I was afraid that would make it feel more bulky and unnatural.

No felt for me, thank you. I love it exactly the way it is. (insert *eeks of glee* here)

Can I tell you how much I love it?! I just love it!! So fresh. So festive. So unique. I'm really enjoying the natural look with a bright pop of color. And to top it all off, it hangs easily from the wire wreath form. It's nice that I don't have to whip up some wire contraption to hang it up.

What do you think? Are you going to try it? I'd love to hear about your own DIY pine cone wreath in the comments below!

May your porches be merry and bright, and may all your pine cone wreaths be white! Heh, heh. :)

DIY Christmas Advent Chain Idea & Free Printable!

My family loves the DIY Christmas advent chain... but how do you make it look fantastic? My struggle is that it always looks like some scraggly chain that doesn't fit in with my Christmas decor.

So this year, I used cardstock that matches my home for the chain (as opposed to any old left over cardstock), then made a cute little printable to put in a frame (you can get it too... when you scroll to the bottom)! 

It hangs on the door from a ribbon on a wreath hanger. Then the kids can reach the loops, and it doesn't look like I just taped it to the wall... although I did just tape it to my picture frame. :)

Make your advent chain (many of us already know this tradition, but for those who don't: cut paper strips, write down the number of days until Christmas - one number per paper strip - then staple them in loops in order, and tear off each loop as you pass each day).

Now you need a place to hang it!

Get your picture frame and decide what size of the printable you want on the wall. My frame was square, and much bigger than an 8x10 - but my printer doesn't print any bigger than 8.5 x 11. So I chose a small square.

But my large picture frame needed a matte...

... so I framed my lime green Christmas wrapping paper! Then I added a blue border of cardstock and used my printable for the centerpiece of the picture.

However you choose to doll it up, frame your printable.

Next, hang it up! If you have wall space, great. If not, do as I did - find an empty door and grab your wreath hanger. Use a sturdy ribbon to hang the frame from the wreath hanger.

And last, tape the advent chain to the picture frame. The kids love it. I love it. Actually, my husband thought it looked fantastic too. And I can reuse it again and again. Yay!

In the spirit of giving, here is your free printable!

• free Christmas printable (square version) 
• free Christmas printable (8.5 x 11 size)

 And if you ask my daughter how long until Christmas, she'll tell you. Thanks to the advent chain. :)

Merry Christmas!!!
 -Jannie

Wire ribbon gift bags tutorial

For Teacher gifts this year, I made little gift bags out of wired ribbon, then stuffed them with pocket size anitbacterial hand sanitizer, Ghiradelli chocolate, and kisses and mint bells.

 This is what I used: Hershey's peppermint bark bells and kisses, Ghiradelli chocolates,  Bath & Body Works pocket bacs, gold wired ribbon, at least 2 inches wide, and tulle on a spool.

Here's how to make it: Cut 28" of wired ribbon. Fold in half. 

From fold, sew a straight basting stitch to the end. Repeat on the other side, making sure to start from the fold, so the bag won't have a pucker toward the bottom/fold. Trim strings.

There's the bag. I slipped the pocketbac in the bottom, and two Ghiradelli chocolate squares. They fit exactly. 

Then topped with kisses and bells and tied of with about 12 inches of tulle ribbon. 

Here they are. Easy and cheap and flexible. Fill with whatever you want.

Happy Christmas! 

-Summer

A Bouquet of Freshly Cut Hearts!

Here's a fun, easy craft idea you can do with your kids for Valentine's day... Make a bouquet of freshly cut hearts! Simply cut hearts out of differently colored and patterned papers, then make 2 slices in the centers.

Slide the hearts onto a skewering stick. Repeat until you have enough hearts and sticks to make a full bouquet. You can also tape together some of the skewers to make some hearts taller than others. We made several of each. You could also use popsicle sticks, or make a miniature bouquet with toothpicks.

Place them in a vase (if you stab the skewers into styrofoam and put it at the bottom of the vase, the hearts stay put, but it isn't necessary) and put them out on display! Add a little note from little hands, and you're done. :)

They could be used for your child's class valentine party, a teacher's gift - or in our case, a fun surprise for Daddy or Grandma. These are also a great little idea for simple home decorating.

Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

Cheap & Easy Card Making Idea - Turn Boring Foil Cards Into Fabulous Foil Cards

Want a beautiful, thrifty and easy card making idea? Here are a few simple techniques you can use to turn foil cards with a matte background into fabulous works of art. 

These cards are so easy to make and they don't take long either!

I found these simple beauties for $1 with 20 cards in it - a dollar! My sisters were throwing me a baby shower so couldn't pass them up. They even had the little feet!! Ah, but I digress. 

I had the perfect plan for them.

Step 1: I started by "grunging" the edges, giving them a modern, worn look. All you need is to scrape your card against your ink pad for this technique. 

For a swiped look, drag the edges of your card across the ink pad. For the spotted/denim/vintage type look, simply press your card into the ink pad without swiping it.

 I like to use 2 different colors to give it depth. Although a monochromatic color scheme can look fabulous too! 

(Tip: always start with your lightest colored ink)

 

Step 2: You can see that the words don't quite pop. So I grabbed my sponge, patted it in the ink, and pressed using a swirling motion just around the words. 

Step 3: Cool as that was, I wasn't done. I wanted to have more of a watercolor look to it. So I lightly sprayed the sponge (that still had ink in it by the way)...

 ...and made short swiping strokes across the center foil words. 

Continue to swipe across the rest of the card until the color runs out. Repeat as often as you like - but remember, not too much water or your card will warp!

 

And this is what you get - unique, artistic cards that only took a minute to make!

 And of course, I couldn't leave it alone! After making a few of one color, I had to make a few in another color! After all, there were 20 in the box.

If you try out this little card making idea, come back and tell us about it. We'd love to see what you did!

Remember to play with it. Have fun! That's part of the joy of making cards. :)

Enjoy!

Cardboard Kitchenette Tutorial

My little girl has become quite the chef.  She even has her own cooking show, where she says "And then..." over and over while mixing her "ingredients" in her hat, bucket, bowl, purse, etc.  I decided she needed to have a real kitchen to work in--well--a real pretend kitchen to work in.  Here's what I used to make her a small kitchenette: a medium sized cardboard box, a paper towel tube, metal or plastic bowl (has to have some sort of lip on the edge), pen, cerated knife, tape, paint, felt, Elmer's Glue, string, yarn and a few odds and ends for "hardware."

Before you get started, make sure the box you have chosen to use is a good height for your little one.  And make sure it will hold up to mini Iron Chef-ing.  It would be very sad if the kitchenette fell apart after just a few months.

Step one: tape your box completely closed on all sides.  Make it secure.  Then measure where you want your sink, faucet, stove top, oven door, and cupboard doors to be stationed. Mark all areas with your pen.

Step two: Use your knife to cut open the oven door, cupboard doors, sink area and faucet area.  When cutting the oven and cupboard doors open, be sure to only cut 3 edges, and score the remaining edge so that it will open smoothly.  Also, to cut the sink space, place your bowl open side down on the box.  Trace it, and then cut it a bit smaller than the lip on the bowl.  Cut the hole for the faucet exactly the same size as the paper towel tube.  Err on the smaller side, not the bigger.

Step 3:  Create the faucet out of the paper towel tube.  Mine is not a super clean job, but it works.  I cut two wedges out of my paper towel role so that it would curve over the sink.  I angled the paper towel tube and taped it back together.  The end of the paper towel tube that is going to be inserted in the cardboard box needs to be clipped about 1/4 of an inch in, perpendicular to the open edge.  Insert the clipped edge into the faucet hole.  Under the "counter top," bend out the edges of the paper towel role to secure the faucet in place. Glue and let dry.  Then tape like crazy to reinforce it.

Step 4:  Install Sink.  Literally plug the bowl in and move on.

Step 5:  Get creative and paint away.  I removed my bowl so I didn't accidentally get paint on it.

Step 6:  Gather your odds and ends and paint them (if you need to) to turn them into cupboard handles, oven handles, towel racks, hot/cold faucet knobs, element knobs, oven temperature knob, etc.

Step 7:  Now, what to do about those elements.  There are so many ways you could make cool stove-top elements.  Mine are not that complex.  4 circles of felt glued with Elmer's Glue to the "stove top." I also decided to reinforce the felt elements with large stitches of fun colored yarn sewn through small holes I made in a spiral pattern in the cardboard top. This is really helpful to prevent kids ripping the elements off of the stove.

Step 8: Install your hardware any way you like.  I used hemp-like string and looped it through small holes I made in the cardboard cupboard and oven doors.  I used a pretty small phillips head screwdriver to push through the cardboard.  It worked really well.

Step 9:  Add a little costume apron and giggle as you watch your little chef host her own cooking show: "And then, stir for two minutes....And then taste it....And then...."

Boring Cards Get a Makeover

I found these boxes of "Thank You" cards on clearance at Target... 50 cards and envelopes for $2.50. What a deal! I bought them.

Only problem is they bored me to tears.

With one ink pad and a few rubber stamps, I had a whole new set of cards! It sure made for a fun, easy craft idea.

To accompany the gold lettering, I figured a mustard-ish yellow-ish ink would look good (later I toyed with reds and greens and those looked classy too).

All I had to do on this one is stamp a flower over the top.

And of course you must stamp the envelope too! That makes it a complete set.

This one was two stamps and a sponge. I simply pressed the sponge on the ink pad like it was a stamp and dabbed it around the words and then add the other stamps.

The next one used the sponge technique (you can also use a rag for texture) and the simple star stamp.

Of course, I couldn't leave the back of the cards bare! People want to feel worthy of a Halmark card, so I always use my own Halmark-style logo... although I try to make it match the card.

And there you have it! Bunches of boring cards turned into classy notes worthy of a wedding gift! Of course, if you're giving the gift then THEY should be the ones to send YOU the thank-you card. :)

Fleece Burp Rags

As promised, here are the directions for how to make fleece burp rags with the whole "rag quilt" idea in mind...

1. Cut your fabric. I used fleece on the back and a white cotton fabric for the front. After washing the fabric, I cut them into 8 x 20 inch pieces (you will only need one cut of each fabric to make one burp rag).

2. Round the corners with your scissors.

3. Snip the rounded corner 4-5 times about 1/2 inch in from the edge...

4. ... then, with the wrong side of the fabric up, fold down the corner and iron flat. Continue doing this until all sides of your fabric are pressed down.

5. Pin the wrong sides of both fabrics together and stitch.

I like the double stitch look, but I don't have the option of dual needles with my sewing machine. So I used a straight stitch about 1/2 inch in from the edge of the folded fabric (white cotton in this case) and then did another straight stitch right along the edge of the white fabric. Sure made a nice finish!

6. Trim off excess fleece (I kept a half-inch border of fleece around the edges).

7. Snip the fleece around the edges to give it that rag or fringe look.

TADA!!! You're done!

Now you have cute little fleece burp rags to match your easy little fleece baby blanket. Fun stuff eh?