Natural Pine Cone Wreath

I really wanted a big, nice holiday wreath for our front door, but I am sure you know, they're expensive. But, a few weeks ago, as our family walked into church on a Sunday morning, I spotted lots and lots of pine cones on the church grass. They were perfect, light tipped and FREE. I grabbed a plastic bag from the car and enlisted my girls to collecting pine cones. None that were crushed and none that were too big. We filled the bag and I started planning. 

 Last week I was in our favorite Dollar Store (Dollar Tree) and I saw large wreath forms made of braided light wood. They had small and large sizes so I got the larger size. next stop was JoAnn Fabrics, where their holiday stuff is all at least 50% off right now. I found little sprigs of red holly berries for $1 per sprig. I bought three (but only ended up needing two). 

Pine cone wreaths are expensive.  This one costs $80 and this red one costs $108 (you could easily spray paint your finished wreath red if you want)!  The total cost of MY wreath was $3. $1 for the wreath form and $2 for two sprigs of plastic holly berries. Well, and the cost of about 6-8 hot glue sticks....but who counts that?   Also, you could definitely add some fake greenery if you want.  And spray paint your finished wreath any color you want.   It's all up to you.  I really like this minimal look.
   
- a whole lot of pine cones (I used around) - wreath form - hot glue gun and plenty of hot glue sticks - 2 sprigs plastic red berries  - strong scissors - dark brown spray paint (optional)

1. Use dark brown spray paint to coat the wooden wreath form. Allow to dry completely and add a second coat. (I didn't do this step, but wish I had).   2.  Take one pine cone and decide which side is best.  Place that side facing up and with your fingers, gently push down the petals (is that what they're called) on the opposite side.  This allows your pine cone to lay flatter against the wreath form and makes attaching it easier.

3. Put a generous amount of hot glue on the flattened petals of the pine cone and press down firmly onto the wreath.  You may need to hold this for a few minutes to make sure it is staying.  Also feel free to add more glue into the cracks while you press down.  It won't show later.

4. Lay another pine cone next to the first one.  Move it around until it fits tightly against the first.  Adhere to wreath.  I chose to vary the direction of my pine cones, but you can have them all facing the same way if you choose.

5. Continue adding pine cones until entire wreath is filled (I didn't cover the back at all, but you could) and no wreath form is showing.  I had three rows.  One that was right on top of the wreath, one that was in the inner circle and one that surrounded the outer edge.

6. When you are done you will notice some gaps where you may see the wreath form where the pine cones didn't fit super closely together.  Use your hands or the strong scissors to cut small portions from additional pine cones and hand glue them in.  Sometimes I added just two petals to fill a spot.  This is where pre-spray painting the form would come in handy.

  7. Use scissors to remove berries from their stems.  Add hot glue to one side and press firmly into wreath in varied patterns, sometimes bunching two and three together.

Note: If you find you have hot glue "strings" on your project when finished (I sure did) use a hair dryer on the hottest setting and carefully blow the strings until they melt and disappear.