A couple of weeks ago my husband and I vacationed in the San Bernadino mountains. The charming town of Lake Arrowhead is nestled up in the California hills about an hour and a half from Los Angeles. The air was cooler and the forests were full of Redwood trees, Sequoias and Giant Sugar Pines. Have you ever seen the pinecone from a Giant Sugar Pine? Well, they are ENORMOUS! Seriously, they are 12-17 inches in length.
And up in Lake Arrowhead the ground is littered with them!
And up in Lake Arrowhead the ground is littered with them!
So every morning on my morning walk I would pick a bagful to bring home.
Are you a pinecone collector like me?
I honestly can't resist them.
I thought these would be great all glittered up and hanging from a large Christmas tree.
So here's how you turn these into frosty, glittery pinecones.
First, be aware that sugar pinecones are covered with sticky sap. To remove the sap you have to bake the pinecones. That's right. Line your cookie sheets with foil and layer the pinecones on top. Bake at 250 degrees for 20 minutes. The sap will drip down onto the sheet. Plus if there are any stray critters living in the cones this will take care of that too.
Next I screwed a small eye hook into the top of the pinecone.
Then I brushed the pinecones with Elmer's glue and sprinkled them with German glass glitter. It has a wonderful sparkle to it. But be careful handling this kind of glitter, it is sharp!
To finish it off I tied a satin ribbon through the eye hook and a loop to hang it with.
My first Christmas craft project of the season completed!
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I have collected a few of the sugar pine cones when I went up to Big Bear. I brought them home... I didn't know about the whole baking thing at the time.... A bunch of spiders came out of one. I freaked and threw them out. Now I know better but haven't been back! I like how you added some glitter to them. They will look so nice for Christmas!
ReplyDeleteWe have access to plenty of pine cones here, and my daughter last year after seeing the gray pine ones glittered up at hobby lobby at Christmas wanted us to go get as many as we can to make our own $4.99 pine cone ornaments instead if buying them... Love the baking idea, makes sense and your decorating of them.... We will take the ones that drop from the trees, pack them with peanut butter and seed then hang them in the trees for the birds, always fun to watch them feed.
ReplyDeleteWill see you soon.
Fondly,
Dore
I had no idea about baking pinecones to remove the sap (and critters...eww.) These are just gorgeous! I can hardly wait to see photos of your Christmas tree with these pinecones hanging down from the branches. It will be so pretty!
ReplyDeleteI gathered a bunch of these one year when we were vacationing in Eastern Oregon. Brought them home and popped them into a huge wicker basket and set them out in the living room for fall decor. I was planning on glittering them up before Christmas, but oddly, by late fall, most had gone missing. My husband had been pinching one occasionally as a fire starter!!! LOL ~ more than one way to roast a pine cone. Mickie
ReplyDeleteI have made these and they turned really good! Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!
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