by Linda Alter

Created on: September 28, 2008   Last Updated: March 23, 2012

CHRISTMAS CRAFTS: HOW TO MAKE A PINECONE CHRISTMAS TREE

Pinecones have been the traditional symbol of Christmas around our house for many years, as do the pine boughs. Our house always smells of fresh pine at Christmas, and our family always loves to do crafts of all kinds. My daughter is getting older now, but I still have a ton of decorations on the tree, many of them made from pinecones.

I'd like to tell you how your family can make a unique pinecone Christmas tree to decorate your Christmas table this year. This is of particular interest for younger children, as it is a fun, and easy craft.

You will need:

• Elmer's glue

• Some cotton balls

• Glitter

• Small beads

• Some thin ribbon, preferably red or green (Christmas colors)

• Dental floss and a needle (to string the beads)

• Green spray paint

• A soda bottle cap, and

• A pair of tweezers.

You will want to make a special family outing to find some pinecones. While you are out, find some nice pine boughs, to decorate your house with, so your house will smell nice for the holiday! You will want nice, fat, round ones, that look like they are shaped like a Christmas tree, proportionately shaped. You will want one for each child.

Once home, you will want to cover the tables well with newspaper so as not to get them dirty! Remove any dirt from the pinecones before you start working. At this point, you may wish to glue on the bottle cap to the bottom of the pinecone to help the pinecone stand up better so as to help it to dry. The cap is the base of the "tree". Let that dry before you proceed.

Spray paint the pinecones with the green paint. You may sprinkle the pinecones with silver or gold glitter (or red or green if you wish) while they are still wet, so it sticks, if you wish to add glitter. Green on green looks nice! You will be adding decorations, remember! At this point, you will want to let the pinecones dry well before going any further.

Now, the rest is up to the individual! Each pinecone tree should look totally unique and different! You can glue on small beads as ornaments to the ends of the branches, use the dental floss and string beads onto it, and glue it onto the the branches in a rick-rack fashion, or any other types of ornamentation you can think of at this point! The decoration is totally up to the imagination of the crafter at this point! The key is to do it carefully, and let it dry before proceeding! This is where the tweezers come in handy!

For a tree topper, you can either use a larger bead, or place a nice bow at the top of the tree, it is totally the crafters choice! Again, crafting, is a unique experience! When done, each tree will look totally different and totally beautiful! Let them dry before you try to move them, then if you wish, you can glue some cotton to the bottom to hide the bottle cap, and so it looks like snow is around the base.

TA-DA! You are done! You have your Christmas trees! A beautiful Christmas tradition!

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