How to make an easy pine cone door hanger
There are so many pine cone crafts I want to try but I thought I would try these adorable pine cone flowers first. I was really surprised at how easy they were to make myself and I plan to make SO many more!
If you’re looking for a more kid friendly project be sure to check out mess free pine cone art using a box. This was a favorite with our girls, and me too because it was literally mess free!
Here in the Midwest we have an abundant supply of pine cones so I didn’t have to search too far to find these little guys. I had great luck at my local park but here are some other places you can find pine cones *remember to always ask permission prior to collecting any pine cones
-
family
-
friends
-
local nature park {although ours doesn’t allow this yours might}
-
neighbors
-
shopping malls that have pine trees in the landscaping
After you’ve collected your pine cones you’ll want to make sure they aren’t covered in gross stuff, honestly I just wouldn’t pick up the ones that need super cleaned anyway lol! Leave those for the critters. I personally didn’t clean any of the pine cones we collected because they were in pretty good shape but if your pine cones have visible dirt or anything it’s a good idea to clean them prior to use.
Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.
Here’s what you’ll need
-
pinecones
-
piece of old wood {I cut mine from an old discarded fence post}
-
wire {I picked mine up at the local farm store}
-
sticks
Helpful tools
How to make flowers from pine cones
First you need to break apart your pine cones. This is a little harder than it looks and takes a lot of patients. Using your wire cutting slowing wedge them into the pinecone where you want it to break apart then use those muscles to cut. You might have to do this a few times before it comes completely apart.
Now paint them. I just used a small paint brush and carefully painted all around the pine cone EXCEPT the middle. Leaving the middles unpainted they will look like adorable little flowers! I chose to paint mine in fall colors, red, yellow, and orange, but you can use whatever colors you’d like. I even painted the bottom as you’ll be able to see that once it’s glued down because it’s curved. I just did one coat on mine but if you don’t like the coverage of one coat on your pine cones you can give yours two coats.
I used an old piece of wood for my base but you can use any wood base you’d like. Because I wanted to hang mine I went ahead and drilled the holes using my Ryobi drill, for the wire to go through before I started gluing the pine cones and sticks down.
While my glue gun was warming up I laid out the painted pine cone flowers where I wanted them to go. See how gorgeous this old piece of wood is! It even still has the nails in it, see them on the right. Granted it’s a little warped but it’s perfect for a scrappy craft like this.
Then I used my wire cutters to cut the sticks down to size for the stems. I just eyeballed this, it doesn’t have to be exact. The sticks I used were pretty thin. You could also use some of the discarded pine cone pieces and make green leaves to glue by the stems. That would have made this project even better!
Then start hot gluing down all the pieces. I put a fairly good amount on the pine cones because they were heavier than the sticks and I didn’t want them falling off as soon as I hung the door hanger up. You’ll want this to totally dry before hanging just incase the glue underneath isn’t all the way dry you don’t want it to start slipping and your pine cone fall off.
Add your wire and you’re done. One of the easiest craft projects and you probably didn’t have to spend a penny!