Mossy Pinecone Ornament Tutorial

It is day four of the Christmas ornament takeover week. Is it just me or did this go by extremely quick? If you have yet to see my previous posts during this takeover week, you can find them by clicking below.

Stamped Wood Ornaments

Marbled Clay Ornaments

Bohemian Arrow Ornaments

Since yesterday's post involved a little more work than my previous two ornaments, I decided to take it very easy today. This post has minimal steps and minimal supply. 

I'm a huge fan of natural ornaments that look as if they actually belong on the Christmas tree. Although most Christmas trees are spruce trees, we're going to pretend mine is a pine tree. And what grows on pine trees? Pine cones! My fav! 

I have a large variety of pine cones throughout my home. Don't ask me why. I guess I just have a thing for them. 

So today's ornament tutorial is going to be so simple and is going to lead you though creating the most natural looking ornament I have made yet. 

Supplies:

• Small pinecones
• Faux moss (get from Michael's here)
• Hot glue gun

Tie the knot:

Get a twine or ribbon if your choice, grab both ends and tie a knot (or double knot) at one end. Place a small drop of hot glue on your pinecone and attach the twine loop to the cone.

You definitely want to do this step before you apply the moss. If you try and do this after you’ll end up with a big ol’ knot glued to the tip top of your moss pile.

Attach the moss:

Your moss will come in relatively large chunks (if you bought a similar style moss to the one I have). Grab a large chunk and separate it into smaller bits. 

Apply a small dot of hot glue and apply your moss. Do this section by section so your moss doesn’t look chunky. Make sure to cover your knot completely. 

The amount of moss you apply is really up to you. I didn’t want mine too thick so I applied just enough to cover the top of the cone and the twine knot.

Add embellishments:

On one of my dollar store hauls I found these little holiday, glittery berry…things. I’m not really sure what they are but I liked them and thought they would finish off this ornament perfectly. 

They came on this big branch of them so I cut a little bundle off and used my hot glue to stick them to the corner of my mossy pinecone. Cute!

Hang your cones:

Didn't I tell you that this was going to be a very minimalistic ornament? But to be honest, these might be my favorite ones I have made so far. 

Something about how simple and delicate they are really gets to me. They look as if they really belong on my tree and I love that. 

If you don't have the little berries I have, try gluing small dried flowers to the side of your moss. That would also look adorable but still very natural. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I enjoyed creating it. Make sure to check back in tomorrow for the final day of my Christmas ornament takeover week!

You can also subscribe below to make sure you never miss any of my recent posts. 

Bohemian Arrow Ornament Tutorial

Day 3 of this week’s Christmas ornament takeover is upon us! I’m so happy to have you here and hope that you have enjoyed the other two tutorials that I have posted! If you haven’t seen the last two tutorials, you can catch up by clicking below.

Handmade Stamp Birch Ornaments

Marbled Clay Ornaments

I've been seeing all kinds of cute bohemian style ornaments this season. Even the simplest of designs can get very, very pricey! So I put my thinking cap on to create this adorable, Anthropologie inspired ornament. 

Today I’ll be showing you how to make these little bohemian arrow ornaments. They’re so freakin’ cute and are incredibly easy to make

Here's what you'll need:

• Twigs
• Hot glue gun
• Clay
• Beads
• Feathers
• X-acto knife (Find at Michael's here or Amazon here)

Cut the clay:

Using your x-acto knife, cut small arrow like shapes out of your clay. They should be about half of a centimeter thick and half of an inch wide. 

I chose gold clay so it would blend well with the neutral, earthy tones of my arrows. 

Form the clay:

You're going to want to bake your clay so that it hardens. Before you do this, though, make sure to stick your twigs into the clay to make an indent.

This little hole is where you will hot glue your twigs in after your clay is baked. 

The clay that you choose should come with baking instructions on the package. Since these clay bits are so small, I only had to bake them for about 10 minutes at 230 degrees fahrenheit. 

Accessorize your twigs:

Grab your beads and stick them on the ends of your twigs. If you plan to use beads like I did, make sure you pay attention to how big the holes of the beads are. 

You don't want to buy beads with this project in mind and get home to see that they're way too small to fit on your twigs! 

If you prefer not to add beads or can't find the right size, you can try wrapping small bits of clay around your twig. This will add the extra spunk that finishes off this ornament so nicely. 

If you do add some clay, I would highly recommend getting some air dry clay instead of the oven bake type that I have been using. That way you don't have to put your twigs into the oven. 

Add some flare:

What's an arrow without a feather delicately finishing off the end? I think this feather gives the piece the perfect finishing touch.

After you have placed your beads on the end, attach your feather by dabbing a small amount of hot glue to the end of the twig. Place your feather onto the glue dot and cover it with the bead so you can't see the glue.

Since you're sliding the bead over the feather, the hot glue you just applied should attach to the inside of the bead allowing the bead to also stay in place.

Look how cute:

These turned out so cute I could hardly stand it. I can't wait to put these on my Christmas tree!

Making cute ornaments that you see in stores like Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. All of these supplies are things that I already had on hand.

 If you really want to save some money, spend a day in a park or a creek and see all of the awesome accessories nature has for you to add to your arrow ornaments. 

Well, that is all for day 3 of the Christmas ornament takeover week. I hope you will join me tomorrow to see what I'm making next!

Also, be sure to subscribe below so you an be notified of my most recent posts!

Marbled Clay Ornaments

It's day 2 of the Christmas ornament takeover! Yesterday we made the easiest stamped birch ornaments using handmade stamps. If you missed out on yesterday's tutorial, you can click here.

Today we're creating something completely different. 

I have ridiculous amounts of clay laying around my house. I made jewelry at one point in my life and since clay was the base of a lot of my pieces, I collected way too much of it over time.

The problem with clay is that it doesn't last forever. Eventually it dries up and is no longer very useful. Seeing as I'm very frugal and hate wasting things, I decided to give that old clay some new life.

These ornaments are very simple and take about 10 minutes (not including bake time). Clay is really inexpensive, so if you don't have tons of spare clay like I do don't panic thinking you're going to spend a fortune! I wouldn't do that to you.

Here's what you'll need:

• Clay (find at Michaels here or Amazon here)
• Cookie cutters (check your local dollar stores!)

Getting started:

Start by choosing the colors of clay that you want to include in your marble effect. The more you choose, the more colorful your final piece will be. 

I chose 3 different clays because I wanted an end result that was pretty simple. 

Once you have chosen your colors, roll them into little worm like shapes that are about a quarter of an inch thick. This doesn't have to be exact, just use your best judgement. 

Make sure they're all roughly the same size and length.

Twist 'em up:

Grab all of your different colors of clay and slowly begin twisting them up like I have shown you above. Once you have twisted them and they start to become one piece, fold the two sides together and continue twisting. 

The more you twist, the more marbled your end result will be!

Roll 'em up:

Once you have a colorful, twisty mess, roll your "worm" shape into a ball. How your ball looks is pretty similar to how your marble will look once it's flattened out,  so if you're unhappy with the outcome so far roll it back out into a worm and keep twisting your pieces around.

Flatten it:

Now that you've gotten your design just the way you like it, get a round surface and flatten out your ball. I used a wine bottle but you can use a regular rolling pin if you have one on hand.

Just make sure that if you do use a rolling pin, you don't ever use it to cook with again. Clay can be toxic so you don't want any remnants floating around in your food!

Continue rolling out the clay until it is pretty thin. You should end up with a flat, half of a centimeter plate shape.

Cut it out:

Gather your cute festive cookie cutters and begin cutting! The cool thing about this clay is that the more you roll it up and reuse it, the more marbled it becomes. So once you're done with one cookie cutter, roll up the excess and move onto the next shape!

Make it hangable:

Before you throw your ornaments in the oven, make sure to poke a small hole in the top so that you can hang them once you're finished. 

This can be done by poking a small toothpick or other small object right through. The clay is very flimsy, so this shouldn't be too hard. If you try to poke a hole after you have baked the ornaments, you may run into some trouble!

Bake them:

Whatever clay you have will say the exact time and heat to bake the ornaments for. I put mine in at 230F for about 20 minutes. You don't want to over cook these!

Once they're out of the oven, let them cool for another 15-20 minutes. Then get whatever decorative ribbon or twine you have and hang them up!

There are so many different variations for this tutorial. The color schemes are seriously endless! Choose colors that match your home and tree theme this holiday season!

I hope you enjoyed day 2 of the Christmas ornament week long takeover. Make sure you check back in tomorrow to see what we're creating next!