3 months ago I sat straight up in bed and said “Pinecone bows” out loud. It wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d ever done in bed, but it was up there. I knew, like the time I apparently pushed the fella right out of bed, I would forget this in the morning. So I got out of bed, walked over to the desk and wrote down “Pinecone Bows” on an old Jumbo Video receipt. Yeah. That old. I also wrote down Push fella out of bed again.
I kept that little Jumbo Video receipt to remind me that when the time came (the time being Christmas) I should make some bows out of some hot glue, 4×6 index cards, twine and acorns. No, no. Pinecones.
The pinecone bows are in keeping with the whole chicken/farmy Christmas theme I’ve got going. The rustic sort of, I live in the woods and have squirrels for pets kind of feeling.
My original plan was just to hot glue pine cones onto index cards until they were in the shape of a bow.
But when I actually did that, I wasn’t in love with it. It basically looked like pinecone poop. So I added a bit of reindeer moss here and there. Now it looked like pinecone poop with reindeer moss, which obviously is a huge improvement but still not acceptable. So … I continued screwing around with the pinecones and the twine.
I just kept gluing and twining and cutting until I came up with a design that worked.
What ended up working the best was a design that combined rustic and a bit of modern. All you do is hot glue a pinecone or two onto an index card then glue twine around them to act like a frame. Cut away the leftover index card and you’re done.
Like with hotdogs, if one is good, two is better.
I improved the original pinecone bow by just making it more natural looking. A few pinecones laying in a bed of moss. I picked this reindeer moss from a very remote and difficult to get to spot at the cottage, picked the bugs and twigs out, transported it home and then preserved it myself. I have no intention of giving this bow away. I’m either going to sit it on the windowsill or wear it as a hat on Christmas Eve.
In the next few days I’ll be showing you how to complete these babies and the paper I’ll be using for my presents. If you just can’t WAIT, they’d look great as is, on plain old brown paper or white wrapping paper. So you can get going on that or … you can wait to see what I’ll be using. Something … a little bit different. The idea came to me while waiting in line to get my drivers license renewed, where it’s *much* more embarrassing to randomly scream things out
It just occurred to me … all the stuff used to make these bows are from the Dollar Store. Pinecones, hot glue sticks, twine and index cards. The reindeer moss isn’t. We’ve been over that.
I vote wearing it as a hat.
Any thought to adding tassels to the top of the hat? That’s really making it more of a “New Year’s Eve” special kind of deal, don’t you think? Adds to the festivity. I mean, it’s nice to go rustic, but it is, after all, New Year’s Eve.
We’ll expect photos.
I vote for the hat too and definitely wear it as a rustic fascinator, this being the year of the royal wedding which will forever be known as the royal wedding where one had to wear a weird fascinator. It is very much on trend. And blending it with the very much on trend rustic look, you have yourself a winning fashion item! Now you just need to add glitter and peacock feathers. The bigger the better. Make sure to wear it to church.
One night, my fella sat straight up in bed and started laughing hysterically. He’s also elbowed me in the face a couple of times.
I don’t believe that EITHER of you forgot that sort of midnight domestic abuse. You’re just using pine trees to cover your sins… shame on you, using nature’s poop to cover your tracks 😉
Meg – I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve been elbowed in the face and shoved out of bed. Once I got elbowed right in the eyeball. That sucked. ~ karen
My little boy elbowed me in the eye once while I was sleeping. The flash of white coupled with the flash of intense pain made for quite the rude awakening.
Good thing the fella is such an excellent gift giver to make up for the occasional rough night.; )
A hat would be entertaining…how about a pine cone fascinator? Princess Karen of Canada.
Thank you Janelle.I will be washing my housecoat covered in the coffee I spit!Too funny.
Oops.Sorry Karen.I am sure you would make a LOVELY princess.
Oh my Hat! Those are so bloody awesome!!!! Great Idea Karen, I really love this!
Jumbo video = free popcorn!
Aren’t you starving squirrels or chipmunks or something?
the last pic with the reindeer moss would look really cute too with a tall skinny candle in the middle..
I love these! How cute. You are so stink in’ creative.
Well I think they are adorable…and can’t wait to see how you used them on pkgs…..
On your night time tag team….Ya need a bigger bed….each can go to their own corner…..LOL
Very nice idea Karen! So cute but:
“It wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d ever done in bed, but it was up there.” Ha ha ha! Almost spit coffee all over the screen.
“Nature’s poop ” haha…too funny. You made me laugh out loud.
If you need some more Reindeer poop….I have acres and acres of the ‘green mossy version’…and I will share with sugar bear. xx
I can see it now….Karen does a GREEN ACRES ROAD TRIP to my house. Wait for the snow to clear….come steal moss from all over my back acres and sleep over in our tree house. Sounds like fun to me 🙂
Lynne – You have a tree house!!??! ~ karen
Should try cinnamon scented pine cones or pour a little cinnamon oil on the pine cones. Then your house smells great and the where ever the gift goes to smells great.
By the way, when I first read the title of the post my eyes saw “Pinecones Blow” instead of “Pinecone Bows”. Yep, it’s already been a wonderful morning in Tennessee.
Liz S. – OMG. I bought cinnamon scented pine cones at the Dollar Store and put them throughout the house, including a wicker basket of them with twinkle light shoved in the bottom in our mudroom. When anyone walks in the mudroom their eyes start watering and their nose burns, LOL. They’re um … they’re a bit too strong. ~ k
Princess karen of Canada!! love it lmao
Nature’s poop! I LOVE it…except now I can’t believe how much poop is lying around my property!
Love these.
Don’t let these hat people get you down. The next time you are invited to a Royal Wedding you will already have the hat and can sit with Fergie’s girls. As for me, I love the idea of the pinecone bows. I have a huge box in my garage and several colors of spray paint such as gold and copper. I’ve used them in floral arrangements for years but never thought of putting them on packages. Looking forward to part 2. Sadly I don’t think reindeer moss grows in Kansas and it is soooo expensive so please take pity and use as little of it as possible.
What ze heck is a fascinator???
Mary c – A fascinator is one of those crazy hats that the royals (mainly) wear. They aren’t a typical hat, but more just sit on the head. Almost like a bow. They’re head art, basically. Philip Treacy is the most famous designer of them. See here … http://www.philiptreacy.co.uk/ ~ karen
Oh these are too darn cute!
The fascinators are kind of fascinating as works of art..but seriously..how do they keep them on their heads??also those cinnamon scented pine cones you buy in stores..they are the only (well almost only) thing that I dread about this time of year..they way over do the cinnamon oil..I have a respiratory disease and can’t breath when I walk past them..Anyhow..Those are very cute..like a little pine cone forest..can’t wait to see how you finish them..
I love crafting with twine. Have you ever twined twine around votive glasses? I just grab a glue gun and start twirling and gluing from the bottom of the glass up, covering as far up the glass as you want. Sometimes I stop about 3/4 of the way up, then do something else with the rest of the glass. Tiny sea shells, moss, any rustic item your want. I have a tree in my yard with miniature pine cones on it. What would you call those? Tiny turds I suppose?
Anyway, love this idea and will def. be using it this Christmas and winter season.
Living at the bottom of the world, there are no reindeer and hence no reindeer moss. So my question is, ‘what is reindeer moss and do you need a reindeer to make it?’
Cant think of anything witty to say, it been a shitty one, luv the poop cones tho.
Your dollar stores are obviously WAY better than our here, but I think that has already been decided. Loved you post!
Yay!! You are brilliant. Thank you for the fabulous ideas.
the funniest thing my fella ever sat up and said in the middle of the night was “je m’appelle la fenetre”…which, roughly translated is “they call me the window”…and no, he is not french!
LOL! Yup. That’s “my name is the window”. That’s hilarious. ~ karen
You have such a great way with words. Your pinecone bows are beautiful and rustic all in one.
Thanks Cathy! I’m wrapping right now! ~ karen
I kind of love the name of this post.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Finally something to do with all the buckets and bowls of pinecones I have everywhere! I’m a happy girl!
Patty – Oooo there’ll be a lot more pinecone ideas coming up next week. 🙂 ~ karen
I love this idea. This got me imagining a pinecone bra for the Burning Man crowd. (of which I am not a member)