How to Make a Glitter Pine Cone Christmas Tree

A pine cone is shaped very much like the tree it comes from. You can easily take advantage of this similarity to create tiny Christmas trees. When complete, your tree will have a garland, shiny round ornaments and a sparkly star. These trees make attractive decorations for the mantelpiece, shelf or table. You can also make them into ornaments for the tree. Children can assist with several stages of the craft, such as gathering the pine cones and putting on the glitter and garland.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Pine cones
• Baking sheet
• Craft glue
• Glitter
• Hot glue
• Tweezers
• Screwdriver
• Sequins
• Metallic chenille stems

1. Gather some pine cones from the yard or from a public place. Look for medium to large pine cones that are even, well-formed and intact. Make sure that the scales are open and that there is plenty of space in-between them. Also ensure that its scales are tight and secure. Reject pine cones that are wet, sticky or discolored.

2. Place the pine cones on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and cook at 200 degrees F for 20 minutes. This will kill any insects and seal the sap into a glaze. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool completely.

3. Protect your work surface with newspaper. Use a brush to apply glue to the surface of the pine cone. Carefully coat all of the scales and work the glue into the interior of the pine cone. Hold the pine cone over a paper plate and sprinkle it with green glitter.

4. Find a metallic chenille stem in silver, gold, red or blue. Wrap it around the top end of the pine cone, then work it downward in a spiral. Push the chenille stem in between the scales like a Christmas tree garland.

5. Allow a hot glue gun to preheat for 5 minutes. Select several small, round sequins in different colors (but don't use green sequins). Hold the very outer edge of a sequin with a pair of tweezers. Place a small drop of hot glue on the end of one of the pine cone scales. Wait a few seconds, then place the sequin on the glue. Use a metal tool such as a screwdriver to gently push the sequin onto the hot glue. Place one sequin on every accessible scale. Stagger the colors so that they are varied around the ornament. Avoid placing two identically colored sequins next to one another. Use the tweezers to remove any strands of hot glue once it has cooled.

6. Bend a metallic chenille stem into five segments about 2 centimeters long. Make a five-pointed star, then cut the point where the first and last segment overlap. Place a drop of hot glue at this point and hold the star tightly between your fingers until the glue has cooled completely. Hot glue the star to the top of the tree, then cover any excess hot glue with craft glue and glitter.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're using the pine cone to decorate your Christmas tree, tie a cord around the top scales.