Any ideas for pinecones???

[Noelsmommy]

I happend to mention once like 10 years ago to my wonderful kind hearted uncle that I think pinecones were pretty, (I'm easy to please obviously) and now he keeps collecting them on his walks and leaving them on my doorstep. In the last 2 months he has left 3 trash bags of what can only be explained as nuclear size pine cones! Any crafty ideas out there on what I might do with them?????


Thanks!

Kelly :bigsnow:

 

[Lana]

I have did very few crafts with them, but I love to put them in wicker baskets, my coke cola wagon, and into an old pickle jar and string lights in with them. Also, I will use them with greenery and lay ornaments on the greenery.

 

[Holiday Joy]

Noelsmommy, thanks for the great mental picture of your dear uncle thinking kind thoughts of you with every pinecone he sees on his walks! Sweet!
I found a site: http://www.pineconelady.comthat has a bunch of pine cone crafts. Try typing in 'pinecone crafts' in google and see what you come up with. All I can think of is the Thanksgiving pinecone turkey we always made in Girl Scouts, and the pine cone Christmas tree we did. Pretty boring.
Let us know what you end up doing with your collection!

 

[MrsSoup]

When I was little we used to make bird feeders and ornaments out of pinecones. For the bird feeder, you spread peanut butter all over the pinecone and then roll it in bird seed and hang it outside!

For ornaments, you cover the pinecone in glue and roll in glitter. Very simple, yet fun craft ideas.

 

[Cathymac]

I have two baskets of pinecones out right now in the living room, just painted gold and silver and piled in baskets with faux pine branches. I had the boys pick up pinecones one Saturday before Christmas when they were driving me crazy, and then gave them cans of spray paint and let them go! They actually turned out really pretty.

If you have a fireplace, pinecones make great firestarters! (not the painted ones, of course).

 

[Noelsmommy]

Thanks guys for the great ideas!!! I have so many I may be able to do a few of them (bird feeders is great) with both of my sons classes in the spring! I also would love to try the basket idea for my fire place and as I am sure to get more on my doorstep, the gold Christmas tree idea or turkey idea next year is awesome!!!

Thank you all! Any others come to mind let me know!!!

Kelly (so happy to be here!)

:bigsnow:

 

[COTINTOP]

The really big pine cones make nice miniature Christmas trees. You can put them in small terra cotta pots and spray paint the pine cone and the pot gold or leave both pot and cone natural and glue on beads or miniature ornaments.

If you have small pine cones, you can glue them onto baskets so that the entire basket is covered, add a bow to the handle and fill the basket with anything for a gift.

You can also hot glue them to wreath forms and keep them up all year. These are a little like grapevine wreaths in that you can change the ribbon on them for the seasons. If you put them outside, you might lightly spray the cones with protective lacquer if you door way is not protected. I've used them as indoor decoration.

 

[lilelf]

If the pinecones are normal size (not the ginormous ones), you can make excellent fire starters with them using old candles. Just use an old muffin tin, melt down all your old candles, pour in the melted wax about 1/4 of the depth of each muffin cup, and place a pinecone in each cup of wax. Let them cool and pop out. Also, if you want to go a step further, add a short piece of candlewicking sticking out of the wax so you'll have something to light.

I made these for my mom and grandma last year and they LOVED them! I used some old peppermint candles and even drizzled some wax over each pinecone after placing it in the muffin cup. Looked really pretty and they worked great, too!

HTH

 

[Terrylee5151]

I have seen very nice wreaths made with pine cones. I also have a lot of pine cones and I love them in the baskets with lights.....usually I have a basket of them sitting outside my front door but since we moved I haven't gotten to them yet. Good luck!!!

 

[Frog Princess]

When I was a little girl, I used to love the Weather Owl that my Grandad had. It was made from a huge pinecone and had a beak and eyes fastened on. The eyes were the sort you can buy if you make dolls or teddy bears, I seem to remember- not sure where the beak came from. I'm not certain if the owl had feet glued on or if it sat on a log. Anyhow, it changed according to the dampness. Before I knew that pinecones all do this, I used to think that the owl was magic because he knew to tuck his 'feathers' in when it was damp or going to rain- and opened them out when it was dry!
If I can find a big enough pinecone, I may just have a go at making one myself. I think my kids would love it. Thanks for sparking off a trip down memory lane!!! :cloudnine:

 

[Noelsmommy]

Frog if we lived on the same continent I would totally give you one for that neat memory! I have huge ones! Hope it works out!

Holiday, great website.....thanks so much!

Thanks for all the great ideas. I woyld hate for them all to go to waste!

Kelly :bigsnow:

 

[creativemom]

I use pinecones and leftover candles to make firestarters. They are great gifts or great to add to gifts. (Especially if your family camps or has fire places.) You could also coat the pinecones with glue and glitter, then hang them on the tree or in windows!! So pretty. I saw it done in St. Louis! It was amazing!

 

[KimD]

Another thing is give a few to kids with a few craft supplies and see what they come up with. I have a great turkey made from a pinecone that my son made me. Also when we had a ton of big pinecones I took some to sons cubscout meeting and they made bird feeders with them.

 

[Terrylee5151]

Martha Stewart is having a show on how to make picture frames from pinecones.....it is either on fineliving.....hgtv or diy. I am going to try to tape it.

 

[Terrylee5151]

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/ ... iary.shtml

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/ ... ngel.shtml

I bet these would be cute

 

[Noelsmommy]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful ideas!! I just knew if I asked on here my ever clever magic friends would come through!

I talked to one of my sons teachers and we are going to make bird houses next month and then apparently theres an owl craft shes going to do with them.

I will have plenty left over to make myself a nice basket or a wreath or both! :bigsnow:

Thanks again!
:jumpinghearts:
Kelly

 

[luludou]

Here's one [urlhttp://familycrafts.about.com/od/snowpeople/ss/meltsnowman.htm][/url]... pinecone snowmen!

 

[Noelsmommy]

I ended up giving a huge bag to my sons pre-first class to make bird feeders out of. I am excited about that (we are doing them Monday).

I managed to miss the Martha Stewart show about the pine cone wreaths. I will have to search her site and see if she listed it.

Thanks again everyone!

Kelly :bigsnow:

 

[Ahorsesoul]

Those big pinecones are wonderful. Fill a basket with evergreen garland, one string of lights and those pinecones. Spray with a little snow. Looks great.

Or just fill a basket with a string of white lights and the pine cones. Wonderful.

People love those huge pinecones. You probably could sell them on E-Bay.

Here's the legend of the silver pine cone:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/pineconecrafts/l/blsilverpinecon.htm

 

[Noelsmommy]

Ahorsesoul, what a nice legend....being superstitious I may be spray painting a few of these silver!!!!

Thanks!
Kelly bun2