This DIY project is so fast and easy, and the product – pretty-smelling, glittery pinecones – can be used in lots of different ways: try filling glass bowls or vases with them and setting them around your home, hanging them from doorhandles, using them as decorations (or packaging filler) for gifts, or tying bits of ribbon to the ends and hanging them on your tree.
All you need to get started: some pinecones, craft glue, scented oil, loose glitter, a bowl, a plastic bag, and wax paper.
First, scent the pinecones. You can paint the oil on (liberally) with a small paintbrush, put some in a plastic bag with the pinecones and shake everything around, or fill a spray bottle and spray it on (that’s what I did).
Use whatever scent you like – I like pine/eucalyptus, but lots of people prefer cinnamon. If you go for the latter, try breaking up some cinnamon sticks and adding them to the mix.
After the scented oil has been applied, place the pinecones in a plastic bag and close it up, and leave them to sit for awhile (the longer, the better for a lasting scent – I left mine for four hours or so, but those with more foresight than I make these in the fall and leave them to sit for weeks before breaking them out around Christmastime).
Now, the glitter. Using a small paintbrush (or just a squeeze-bottle applicator), apply glue to the tip of each pinecone “leaf”.
Fill a small bowl (preferably one you don’t eat out of; oops) with glitter, and dip each pinecone, coating well on all sides.
You’ll probably end up gluing quite a bit of glitter to your fingertips. That’s OK: you’re crafting, and such things happen. Besides, more glitter = more festive, etc.
Place the scented, glittery pinecones on a sheet of wax paper and let them dry for a couple of hours, then use as you wish!
If you want to make the pinecones into pretty DIY ornaments, just tie a silk ribbon into a handle (leave the ends loose for a leaf effect), and use a pin to affix the ribbon to the pinecone.
Pretty, pretty.
