I actually made a pinecone wreath in the same way about 5-6 years ago when I was back in Canada. I had always intended to make it snowy but chickened out. See, I was worried that I was going to mess it up, and you can’t really go back once you start painting pinecones. It already looked nice just brown, so I ended up leaving it.

But this time, I was determined to get the snowy wreath I had pictured! And you know what? It turned out amazing!!!

I find that it’s rare when a craft turns out exactly as awesome as I intended it to be. I tend to have these grandiose ideas, which never execute quite as well as I hoped. I mean, they look good, just not exactly like my imagination. But not this wreath!! It’s almost better than I pictured it! But the bad part is that I have nowhere to store it!

I promised Richard (when I first started gathering pinecones) that we could throw it out at the end of the year (can you compost hot glue?!). But, now that it’s done… I am not sure I can bear the thought! Does anyone else want to give it a home once Christmas is over?!

Anyway, back to the tutorial!

This wreath is dead simple and just takes time. It’s also super cheap if you can get a good deal on hot glue sticks (it used a ton!).

Oh, and a tip for you – take a couple of large pinecones and remove the individual scales. Then, glue a line of these around the edges (inside and out) of your wreath before you start glueing down pinecones. Both times I made this wreath, I ended up with visible cardboard along the edge. I ended up glueing a combination of individual pine scales and tiny hemlock cones along both edges to fill the gap. But, if you wanted to do it first, it would definitely be easier. Up to you!

That’s the gap I was talking about above and below shows it filled in with hemlock cones and a few scales.

Oh, and the pinecones? Well the best time of year to gather them is actually the summer (weird, right?). That is when they are ripe and fall off the tree all nice and open. But who makes pinecone crafts in the summer?! So if, like me, you are hunting for them in fall or winter, here is a tip – bake them!

That’s right! To open up green pinecones (and get rid of sap and any little crawlies you may have picked up) you bake them in the oven at a low temp! Simply line a couple baking sheets/tins with foil and place your pinecones in a single layer. Then you bake them at 100-110°C (200-230°F) for about an hour. Depending on how many you have, and how open they are, it can take a bit more time.

I just went to the park one day and collected all different kinds of cones – pine, fir, cedar, hemlock, etc. The tiny hemlock ones were perfect for filling in the gaps later. I had about four oven trays worth for my wreath.

Warning, it’ll make your oven smell like pine for a bit, but it’ll fade pretty quick once you cook anything else. I haven’t noticed any lingering smell, and nothing I made after tasted like pine.

So, once you have a nice big bowl of pinecones ready, you can make this wreath!

Materials:

• Hot glue gun + glue sticks (I forgot to count how many I used, but would guess about 30 mini ones?)
• Stiff cardboard as big as your desired wreath
• Pinecones (lots!)
• White craft paint
• Clear-drying craft glue (I used some wood glue I had lying around)
• Cheap paint brush
• Fake snow
• Ribbon for hanging (I got mine on Etsy)

Directions:

1. Measure how large you want your wreath to be, and cut it out of some stiff cardboard. If your wreath isn’t strong enough, cut out two layers and hot glue together.
2. [Optional] Glue a line of pine scales along the inside and outside edge of your wreath.
3. Glue down a ring of similar-sized pinecones along the inside and outside edges, overhanging a bit.
4. Continue to fill the wreath with a variety of pinecones, adding depth.
5. Fill in any gaps along the edge or middle of the wreath with little cones, like hemlock.
6. Using a dry brush (with only a little paint), dab all over the pinecones to give them a frosted look. Let dry.
7. Figure out which way you want to hang the wreath so that you can add snow where it would naturally sit. Using the same brush, dab craft glue along the tops of some of the pinecones. Sprinkle over fake snow.
8. Add as much snow as you want, piling it on the ‘tops’ of the larger pinecones. Lift up the wreath and shake to remove excess. Warning – it’ll make a mess!
9. Add ribbon and hang.

You can see how light my paint application was above. The left shows without, and the right is with paint. Use a really dry brush, and stipple it on the tips of the cones.

Et voila! A gorgeous wintry wreath that’ll add a touch of snow to your Christmas, no matter where you live! I only wish that my door was outside (and prettier) so that more people could see it!

DIY striped doormat | Hello Victoria

Please excuse the photos, there is no natural light in our hallway, and I can’t really pick the carpet…

Now, as much as I can (and will!) change the inside of our flat to my liking, I’m not allowed to do anything to the common areas of our building. I wish. I would love to give the hallways and stairs a fresh coat of paint that isn’t cream, update the carpet on the stairs, create some sort of funky mailbox system, and dress up the entryway… etc. etc. sigh daydreaming…

The only thing I can do is add a cute doormat outside our front door (and a funky wreath)! I searched around for a while, trying to find something I could buy that I liked, but to no avail. The one doormat that I found and loved, was unavailable in the UK and too expensive to buy online. However, it was a simple striped design that I thought I could recreate.

Striped doormat inspiration via Houzz

I searched online for tutorials about painting your own doormat, and from what I could tell, it just meant taping off your design, and either spray painting or dabbing on paint with a brush. I ended up going with the latter to save myself from having to prep an area for spray painting.

I bought this simple plain coir doormat from HomeBase, although, once I got it in front of my door, I kind of wished I had bought a bigger one (oh well!). Using my inspiration image as guidance, I bought masking tape the thickness of the stripes that I wanted… or at least I thought I had. Turns out it was wider than my stripes once I brought it home, but we had some electrical tape that was the perfect width – score! My only other supplies were black and white acrylic craft paint from HobbyCraft and a couple of cheap stencil brushes. (I chose stencil brushes as their stubby shape seemed perfect for my application; after all, I was sort of stenciling no?)

The doormat before, and after taping off the white sections

At first, I tried to use exact measurements but ended up just eyeballing most of it. As my inspiration was quite natural in the stripes, I wasn’t too concerned with some paint seeping or my stripes being exact.

This is after the first coat of white paint (I did at least two, with some touch-ups)

I began by painting the blocks of white, and let them dry completely. After that, I taped off the areas that I wished to remain white and painted on the black stripes. Unlike the white, the black only took one coat, as the doormat had already soaked up so much white. Once those were dry, it was a simple matter of removing the tape, and voila! A DIY modern striped doormat!

Pretty simple no? So why did this take me months to finally tackle? Oh yes… procrastination… my old friend…

As for that wreath I mentioned? Well, I bought a copper metal wreath frame from Hobbycraft, and wrapped some bundles of eucalyptus, wax flowers, and large greenery to make a spring wreath!

Pretty no?