You know when you have a certain image in your head of the final outcome of a project? Well, I had a very different image in my head for this DIY pinecone wreath.
To be honest, I wasn’t going to post it here on the blog. I totally had a Serena and Lilly pinecone wreath dupe in my head for Christmas and it came out nothing like it.
BUT, I decided just because it was different from what I had envisioned didn’t mean it wasn’t worthy of sharing or hanging on the front door. The wreath wound up working well for transitioning from Christmas décor to simple winter décor.
I had a collection of pinecones stashed away, some bought and some collected from outside.
I decided I would start with trying to bleach the pinecones to achieve a light, weathered look.
There’s a lot of different ways to go about bleaching pinecones. I decided to add my large and small pinecones to a bucket and covered them with a 50/50 bleach to water ratio. They do float to the top so I stuck some big rocks on top to push them down.
I checked on them after 24 hours. It looked like my tiny pinecones were starting to disintegrate and the bigger ones weren’t quite ready to come out. Hindsight, but I should have separated them when soaking.
I took out the tiny pinecones and laid them out to dry. I left the bigger ones in for another 24 hours.
Pinecones do close up when wet, but as you let them dry they will start to open up. I let mine air dry for a few days.
Check out the noticeable difference from the before and after in these pinecones.
I like them, but I might let them stay in the bleach even longer if I bleach more in the future.
To make the wreath, I went with a wire form that I purchased from Michael’s.
I decided to just super glue them on. I thought a little extra surface area would work well for the pinecones to stick to, and I wrapped the form with twine.
The big pinecones were super glued first along the interior of the form and then I went in rows outwards.
Once all the big ones were on, I started sticking the tiny pinecones in any space I could fit them in. I’m glad I had the varying sizes of pinecones – I think the wreath would have looked really sparse with just the big ones.
I tried approximately 500 different ribbons and bows before I decided I really didn’t like how it looked with a bow.
That’s how the wreath came to be more of a winter wreath rather then a festive wreath.
This was my first time making a wreath at home. Overall, it’s not perfect but I did enjoy making it. I am happy to have some pretty transitional décor on my door while I impatiently wait for spring.
