Fall {Pine Cone Flower} Wreath Tutorial

Happy Fall!  Last year I showed you how I made a burlap bubble wreath for my decorative door, then how to spiffy it up with Fall flowers.  This Fall I really wanted to make a wreath to hang on my front door.  My original plan was to use the leftover pine cones from my Christmas centerpieces and just glue them onto a wreath form.  When I sat down to get started though one idea led to another and I ended up going in a whole new direction.  I could not be more pleased with the results!

I spent around $5 on supplies.   The wreath form was four dollars and I had to stock up on my supply of hot glue, everything else was from my stash...or from my yard...or from my Grandma's yard (she has TONS of the cutest little pine cones). 

The pine cone flowers in the center are quite fun to make and they are sooo easy to paint!  My mind is racing with all of the ways they could be used!

 How to Make a Pine Cone Flower Wreath

Supplies

Small Pine Cones (lots of them)

3 Medium Pine Cones

12" Foam Wreath Form or Larger

Burlap

Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

Small Handheld Pruners

Large (tree limb size) Pruners

Paint:  Yellow, Orange, Vanilla, Brown

A Few Small Branches/Twigs

Ribbon to Hang It

Sprig of Berries

 Clear Acrylic Spray (Optional)

Directions

Starting at the bottom, use the handheld pruners to cut the small pine cones into flat sections. 

This will get VERY messy.  You might even want to cut them outside. 

*Watch your fingers and make sure you keep them out of the way of the pruners.

Use the tip of the pruners to clean up any damaged pieces of the pine cone around the center core.

Wrap burlap around the foam wreath form and hot glue it in the back.

Hot glue the little "flowers" to the burlap, just close enough to each other that they are touching.

 

Hot glue the sticks and berry sprig to the back side of the wreath. 

Double up a ribbon and loop it around itself at the top of the wreath.

 

'Candy Corn' Painted Pine Cone Flowers

Use a large set of pruners to cut the larger pine cones into flat sections.  Again, be very careful and make sure your fingers are out of the way, you might want to wear safety glasses too.  I had to quickly open and close the pruners repeatedly to cut through the core of the pine cone.

The flowers are painted in soft 'candy corn' colors with brown paint on the tips of the petals.  You can use any paint you have on hand and layer and mix colors to get just the shade that you want.  I chose not to paint over the dark brown color around the center of the pine cone. 

To weatherproof them, spray them with a clear acrylic spray.

Glue the flowers onto the twigs, using plenty of hot glue.

In December I'll remove the Fall flowers and ribbon and add a red ribbon and Christmas flowers for a whole new look.

So now I have a decision to make:  Do I hang it outside on my unprotected door like I originally planned

(where it will be rained on, tossed to and fro by the wind, and inevitably get covered in dust) or do I find a place for it inside? 

I don't think I could stand to see it get ruined, I love it too much! 

Have you ever made pine cone flowers?  If you haven't, do you think you'd like to give it a try?

If you liked this post and would like to pass the idea along to your blog readers or on Facebook or Pinterest I'd be thrilled!  (Sharing ideas is the reason I blog.)  You are welcome to use one of my pictures with a link back to this post if you'd like.  Thanks!

Today's Fabulous Find...Pine Cone Flowers

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