Pine Cone Christmas Tree Ornament

There are plenty of holiday activities that you can do as a family, including making a pine cone Christmas tree ornament. Rather than purchase holiday decorations from a retailer, get crafty and host a family get together to create memories and enough ornaments to deck the halls come Christmas Day.

Making a Pine Cone Christmas Tree Ornament

You can turn plenty of nature's objects into festive ornaments or decor. Go ahead and take a walk and discover just how many small items can be adorned with glitter and bows to create whimsical style.

Things You'll Need

For this unique craft idea, you can purchase bagged pinecones at the craft store or gather your own. Supplies for pinecone ornaments are inexpensive as most people already have a decent craft supply on hand. In addition to jumbo pinecones, you'll need the following items:

Metallic red or green paint
Paintbrushes
Glitter spray or gold and silver spray paint
Decorative items like feathers, sequins, beads, and artificial snow
Thin ribbon or colorful heavy duty thread to help attach the ornaments to the tree

Debug Before You Start

If you'll be making these ornaments from pinecones you found on your own, you'd be advised to first get rid of any critters that may be lurking in the depths of your pinecones. You may not realize it, but some cones can be filled with bugs. To get rid of them, you can either place the pinecones in an air tight plastic bag for a few days to cut off the oxygen supply, or you can place them in a foil pan and bake on a low setting for an hour or two. This step is generally unnecessary if you purchase your pinecones at the craft store.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Your Ornaments

To make the ornaments, follow these simple steps.

Apply a metallic colored paint to your clean, dry pinecone using a paintbrush. You can just pour the paint into an empty egg carton, gather a brush, and go to town. Don't get too heavy handed with the paint though; otherwise the ornament can look clumpy and dull.
You can also spray paint the pinecone for a more even coat. When the paint dries, spray it with glitter spray so it reflects off the Christmas lights.
Add decorative touches such as feathers, fake snow, or even broken bits of colored peppermint candies.
Tie a cheerful and jolly velvet or tartan ribbon around the stem, and you're good to go.
Hang your pinecone ornaments on a Christmas tree or anywhere else a touch of holiday magic is needed.

Store Carefully

Once your ornaments have graced the halls or the trees during the holiday season, you'll want to take extra precaution to ensure they are preserved and stored properly. Large plastic storage bins are a wonderful place to store pinecone ornaments. Be sure to wrap your pieces in a protective sheet of tissue paper to avoid breakage while storing.

Versatile Holiday Nature Crafts

In addition to crafting up family memories, pine cone ornaments make great present add-ons. Consider tying an adorned cone to a wrapped gift, or place a jar filled with cones in a large glass bowl to create a centerpiece. Get creative with ideas, and you'll find there are many ways to decorate with such a versatile piece of nature.