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I do the pine cone trees, but I might do them a little different than others do.
I get my own cones the hard way! LOL! We live in the Atlanta area, so it's pine cone city around here with all the towering pines. They are a beautiful cone. Other cones I like are ones from Alabama (long and slender) and Mississippi cones (much fatter and round). I'm not sure which state has what kind of pine tree, but all three have very different, very beautiful cones. I've even found some (I think in Alabama) that were very small, an inch or 2.
After cleaning them up, (blowing out the dirt and seeds, clipping of the "prickers", clipping out the few top layers) I spray paint them all white. It takes a few coats to do this completely. On the final coat I sprinkle glitter - either red, white or silver. When dry, I spray a coat of polyurethane to set.
After all that's done and dry, I attach beads with a hot glue gun for "ornaments". The bead size depends on the size of the cone. I have small and large beads.
On the top int he area I clipped out, I either put in a star or glue ribbon. It depends on if you want to hang it off a tree (ribbon) or make it a stand alone decoration (star). I bought small wooden stars and painted them gold. My husband drills a small hole in the joints of one of the star points to fit a thin wooden skewer (like for shish-ka-bobs). I cut the skewer to an inch or so and glue it in the hole of the star. In the top of the cone I put a bit of that florist's clay, or white putty, then insert the skewer with the star into the putty.
They come out SO pretty! I wish I had some made up to post a picture of. I gave them all I had made to my family. My Gramma loves them so much she keeps them around her house on window sills all year long. She's even given some to friends as extra "gifts" during Christmas.
The very small cones I just spray paint white, glitter and poly. They're too small for anything else, but they look so pretty when done.
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"I won't let go
of that youthful soul
despite body and mind
my youth will never die.." - Creed
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