You may be lucky enough to have a friend who gathered pinecones for you, like I did! Because that's a back breaking job! Be sure that you are using plump, medium-sized pinecones for this project. And, remember to use thick gardening gloves when handling the pinecones. I also used rubber gloves when I handled the pinecones while spray painting them.
First, soak the pinecones in vinegar and water in a large bucket to get them clean and bug-free before starting this project. I started to skip this step until I saw a stink bug crawl out of one of the pinecones! Yikes!
Use 1/3 to 1 full cup of vinegar per gallon of water. Let pinecones soak 1/2 to 1 hour. Then, drain the water and set the pinecones out in the sun to dry for a couple of days, or until they have opened again. Pinecones close up when wet.
Then, using heavy duty gardening sheers, cut the pinecones in half. This takes a lot of strength because the pinecones are difficult to cut. If the pinecone is large, you may have to cut 3/4 of the pinecone off in order to get the size you need.
Determine what colors you want to use for your wreath. I used yellow, purple, orange and red spray paint. I used a green and orange acrylic craft paint for the middle of the pinecones. I sprayed the pinecones with polyurethane to give them a shiny look.
The colors were so bright and reminded me of Fall!
I spray painted my styrofoam wreath purple. This is an optional step. I thought the purple would look nicer than the natural green color of the styrofoam wreath.
I hot glued the pinecones onto the styrofoam wreath. Use a generous portion of glue. I used floral wire to make my hanger for the wreath, then added a bow.
Everyone who comes to our house is raving over my door wreath! They are shocked to find out they are pinecones and not zinnias!
Happy surfing, pinning, and crafting!
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