While Halloween hasn't even arrived yet, I think my house is sufficiently haunted so I've started in on some Fall decorations for November. I'm so excited about how these came out and I hope you like them!
I've always loved acorns for no reason that I can put my finger on. I just think they scream Fall. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, pinecones were literally everywhere. Now living in the desert, I don't have either so I did what Makers do and made my own versions!
Supplies:
- Plastic Easter Eggs (had some in my craft stash)
- Acrylic Paints ( I used Craftsmart Dark Brown and Martha Stewart Rust Metallic)
- Scrapbook Paper ( Pinecones)
- Jute Cord
- Coordinating Sequins (I love the Kids Craft section at Michaels)
- Copper Beads
- Glue Gun and Hot Glue
- Aleene's Turbo Tacky Glue
I wasn't sure how well the paint was going to stick to the plastic so I coated a couple with Mod Podge to increase the adhesion and then I decided to try directly on the egg which worked fine. It was easier to open the eggs to paint vs paint them whole.
I used a bamboo skewer to help hold the eggs in place as I painted. I started with a coat of the plain brown paint and then went over that with a couple of coats of the metallic rust. I made some "egg holders" from scraps of paper glued together in a circle.
I'm a "figure it out as I go along" person so initially I didn't think I needed to paint the tops of the eggs since they would be covered with sequins but after I could still see a little of the color when I did the first one, I decided to do that w/ the rest.
Once your egg is completely painted ( you can see here I reached my decision to paint the tops after I'd already added the twine to one, so it's shown here w/out paint) then add a drop of hot glue on the seam, wrap around the egg as shown and when satisfied, glue then trim the end.
For the acorn stems, I just folded some of the jute twine over itself 2 or three times and sealed the ends w/ a dab of hot glue and then glued to the middle of the top of the egg. Then, using the Tacky Glue, start gluing the sequins around the egg, starting at the top edge of the twine. Work up to the top and voila!
I had some copper beads in my stash so I added on sequin to the bottom along with one copper bead.
Pinecones:
For the pinecones you will need an oval craft punch or a digital cutting machine. I used my Cricut Explore 2 and created an oval shape in Design Space for my pine cone parts.
I had some silver polka dot foiled kraft papers in my stash and I liked the way I thought they'd look with the acorns so to coordinate, I used silver sequins around the small end of the egg. Starting around the sequins, start gluing the ovals around the egg. I did use the hot glue for this. Continue until you get to the top of the egg, slightly offsetting each row of petals. Once you get to the other end, decide if you want them more open or closed and glue the petals down accordingly.
