Easy To Make DIY Pine Cone Christmas Trees and Topiaries

For years I have been saving creative pine cone projects on Pinterest that I want to try. 

There is something magical about the simple beauty of a pine cone used in Fall and Christmas decorations. 

But I get busy with other things in life and those someday projects rarely get done.

I truly am a procrastinator at heart.

Finishing this easy DIY pine cone Christmas tree project gently nudged me past my idea-hoarding tendencies.

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This post is part of the monthly Creative Craft Blog Hop, where I cohost each month with Sara of Birdz Of A Feather blog. 

If you are visiting from Carol’s site, Blue Sky At Home, I am glad you stopped by.  

 

 

It is that time of year again when my mind is starting to overflow with too many DIY Christmas projects.   

I have been waiting for a long time to make at least one tabletop Christmas tree using small pine cones and this last Creative Craft Blog Hop of the year was the perfect time to finally make one, or two, or even three. 

 

 

 

As far as pine cone crafts go, this is not my first project nor my first blog post about them. Ever since we moved into this house many years ago and once I started blogging, I have shared several nature-inspired crafts made with the smaller pine cones collected from my yard.

However, It has been a few years since I shared a finished pine cone project.  Mostly because I haven’t taken the time to start the amazing ideas I saved on Pinterest, or even collected the fallen pine cones at all.

This year is different.  I finally had a reason to make those long-forgotten pine cone crafts a reality. 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the Spring we had to have three of the largest pine trees cut down around our property. Two because they were dangerously leaning towards the house, and the third because it was dying.  Cutting them down left me with a scattering of small pine cones to collect and use for crafting one last time.

So I decided to create as many festive, and a few cute projects too, as I could with this last harvest of free pine cones.

 

 

 

After collecting as many small pine cones in the yard that weren’t damaged during the tree removal, I followed my usual routine to prep the pine cones for crafting.  Before using naturally gathered pine cones, it is a good idea to rinse them in hot water and then bake them in a 250-degree oven for about 2 hours.  This practice helps kill off any bug eggs or other creepy crawlies that love to nest in pine cones.

 

 

 

In these photos, you will also see a very large pine cone that we picked up on one of our walks around the neighborhood. 

The pine trees in my yard gift us with just the smaller pine cones so when I randomly spied a bigger pine cone in an empty lot while walking our dogs around the neighborhood, it had to come home with me.  This way I get to make two versions of a pine cone tree and a topiary for this post.

 

 

 

 

These projects required small pine cones, a Styrofoam cone shape, a 6″ round Styrofoam ball, plant pots, small blocks of styrofoam to insert inside the pots, burlap ribbon, Spanish moss, and finally a hot glue gun and a generous amount of hot glue.

Before I could make any of the projects, they each needed a pot to hold them.  Luckily I had three small pots just waiting for a new purpose in my craft stash.  

Two of the pots I wanted to reuse out of my craft stash were white-painted clay pots.  They could work perfectly for these projects but I decided to give them a more aged look by dry brushing on a mixture of brown and gray painted over the surface with a small paintbrush. Since I plan to leave the pine cones mostly unpainted, the pots needed a more rustic appearance. 

 

 

 

 

 

The first project was the pine cone Christmas tree.

First, I wrapped the burlap ribbon around the Styrofoam cone as a base material to adhere the pine cones to with hot glue.  Next, I hot glued the Styrofoam cone to the round block of Styrofoam inserted inside the clay pot.

Starting at the base of the cone, hot glue pine cones all around the circumference of the cone.  Continue adding more pine cones while moving up the sides of the cone.  It is best to use smaller-sized pine cones near the tip of the cone.

 

 

I have considered painting the pine cones green, but leaving them natural means this can be one of those holiday crafts that I can leave up through the winter months after all of the other Christmas decorations have been put away. 

 

 

After completing the first project, I turned my attention to the pine cone topiary project.

 

 

Hot gluing the pine cones to a rounded orb was a bit more challenging and ended up with many exposed areas of the white Styrofoam ball. 

My solution was to fill in the gaps with generous amounts of Spanish moss all around the topiary and underneath the ball as well.  The topiary ended up with a natural look that I think will look good on display all winter.  Especially with a string of white fairy lights during the Christmas holiday for a more festive look. 

 

 

 

The large pine cone was the quickest and easiest project of the trio.

Using another small paint brush I generously brushed white paint along the tips of the pine cone scales for a snow-covered effect.  Once the paint dried, I attached the large pine cone to the Styrofoam base inside the aged pot. 

The last step was to add an enchanting strand of fairy lights to make this tree stand out against the others in the trio.   

During the Christmas holiday, I will probably insert small brightly colored ornaments between the scales but the main plan for this large pine cone is to keep it neutral for a Winter display.

 

 

 

With a little creativity, hot glue, and a lot of pine cones, I can finally check off some long-awaited Pinterest projects from my list.

 

 

Pin For Later

 

 

 

 

 

Now I would like to invite you to visit the other bloggers participating in the Creative Craft Blog Hop this month.