DIY Acorn Wreath

 

With a little effort to gather and dry out acorns, you can make a beautiful acorn wreath.  It is simple and easy to make this DIY acorn wreath.

 

 

I have a property full of large trees which love to throw hundreds or thousands of acorns and pinecones, and of course leaves, on the ground every fall.  Most years I can’t get to the acorns before the squirrels and the deer eat them, but this year I picked them up as soon as they started falling and was finally able to make my first DIY acorn wreath!

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A few weeks ago on Instagram I shared this image of the cans of acorns I had started to collect and bragged that I beat the squirrels to the acorns for once.

 

 

If you could see my yard now you would laugh with me at that joke!  We have so many acorns on the ground right now that it is like walking on wheels.

Not sure if the folklore is true about lots of acorns means a snowy winter but this could be a rough year for us if that is true!

Either way I am happy that I picked up enough acorns early to be able to make this wreath. The squirrels have been crazy active for days around here and every evening the deer show up to munch on the nutty treats.

 

For best results, clean and bake the acorns.

 

 

The first thing I had to do was give the acorns some time to turn brown.  Most of them I had picked up over a few days were still green.  After about a week of them spread out on a table in my craft room they were all brown and ready for the next step.

The acorns need to be washed and baked before you use them in craft projects.

bake the acorns in the oven.

I read several posts on Pinterest about the baking part and for how long and found that most were similar in times and temperatures.  After putting the acorns in a single layer on a parchment paper covered baking tray, I baked them for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Fahrenheit, turned them over a bit, and let them bake another 15 minutes. (Sorry but I forgot to take a picture of this step.)

I figured this was enough to kill off any bugs or eggs hiding in the shells, even though I hadn’t seen any on the acorns.

 

 

After cleaning and baking the acorns, it is very easy to tell which ones you need to keep and which ones need to be thrown out.  For instance, small holes are now more visible in the acorns which means bugs have been there before.  I didn’t use any with holes but since they were baked the bugs shouldn’t be a problem.  I just decided not to use them just in case.

Some of the acorns were discolored or a bit spotty looking once they turned brown so I threw those out too.

Just know that you will throw out at least a third of the acorns you picked up in the beginning.

 

 

The wreath form I had was a small one at only 8″ wide, which is good considering how many acorns I decided not to use.

Most of the supplies I used to make the wreath I already had in my craft stash but you can easily find the dark green burlap and twine at Dollar Tree.

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I wrapped the foam wreath form in the dark green burlap and tied a loop of twine to the top before gluing on the acorns.  The twine was secured to the wreath with hot glue before adding on the acorns.

 

 

Using a hot glue gun, I spent some time just gluing the acorns to the wreath in various sizes and placement.

 

 

This was the longest part of the process and requires a little patience.

A lot of the acorn caps had fallen off during the washing and baking steps, so I just glued them back on with hot glue.

 

 

My version of an acorn wreath has acorns with or without caps.  I just went with the design as it developed.  Once all of the acorns were glued on, any gaps showing the burlap underneath were covered up with acorn caps.

The final step was to seal the acorns against decay and mold.  This required a coating of Polycrylic spray.

 

 

After hanging up the wreath and viewing it for a few hours, I decided it needed more than just a bow.  So I went outside to our wooded lot and clipped these branches from a tree that had bright red berries.

 

 

I have no idea what type of bush or tree this is but the berries were free so I clipped them.  Of course for a autumn themed wreath the green leaves were too bright so I clipped them off as well and just used the stems and berries for decoration.

 

 

A double bow of jute twine completed the look.

This type of natural wreath took some time but cost very little money.  Hopefully it lasts through the autumn season and beyond.

Hugs,

 

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