Pinecone Wreath

So- I saw a pinecone wreath last year at the tree farm when we were picking out a Christmas tree. I wanted it so badly, but it was a little spendy (like $60, yipes). I have a really, really hard time buying things that I know I could make. The problem is, it often takes me a year to make them!

I think it worked out ok in this case, I made this cute little wreath just in time for the holiday season! I'm so excited about how it turned out. It was really easy to make, just time consuming. I bought a wreath form from the craft store, and several different sizes of pinecones (on sale!) to make this. I used a hot glue gun to attach the largest pinecones first, then the medium sizes ones, and finally the smallest ones to fit in the leftover spaces. You can't really tell from this picture, but I left the back of the wreath form bare. I think it will be easier to hang it that way, and it would have taken so many more pinecones to fill the whole thing!

My Facebook friends had a preview of this wreath, and we were jokingly discussing how silly it is to buy things that literally grow on trees outside. However, I think buying the pinecones was a good idea for 3 reasons:

1) I was able to buy different sizes to make a more sculptural wreath.
2) I knew that there were no unsavory beings (a.k.a. bugs) living inside them that would consequently be abiding in my home.
3) I'm super lazy and lets be honest, it would take forever to forage that many pinecones.

I'm a little embarrassed to show this close up, because you can see that there are obviously a lot of hot glue strands left over! But did you know that you can blast those away with a blowdryer on high heat? It works like magic! They literally disappear before your eyes.

My baby is napping now, which is why the blowdryer thing didn't happen before I posted these photos. ;)

 I love natural looking wreaths! This one will be useful in a lot of settings (I think I can have it out Fall-Winter easily) and it only cost me $16 to make. Yay for saving moolah!