Pinecone Wreath

I'm super excited about my front door wreath this year. I knew I wanted something with natural elements and when I saw this pinecone wreath, below, from James The Farmer I knew it was perfect. It was priced between $150 and $200. I think it looks totally worth it, but it's no longer available. 

What's a girl to do? 
Make it!

My version is a little less embellished, but it only cost me $18! 

I spent about an hour and a half putting it together and didn't have much trouble. 

You'll want to put gloves on when working with pinecones. Garden gloves would be preferable, but my rubber cleaning ones worked fine. 

To attach the pinecones to the wreath, cut wire to about 8 inches and wrap it around the center of the cone. Then twist the ends around a wire on the frame. The key is to tie the pinecones on nice and tight so they don't flop around. 
Clip off the excess wire once it's in place.
Here's what my wreath looked like, below, after 30 minutes and 3 bags of pinecones. 

This was the first round. I found that it was easiest to flip the wreath right side down instead of constantly flipping the frame. And make sure you work on a craft table or cover the surface of a table that you don't want to scratch. 

Next, for the top layer, you'll, need to cut wire to about 16" and place the pinecones so that they cover any places where you see exposed frame wire. Tie on the pinecones the same way you did with the first round. 

In total, I used 5 bags of pinecones. These were the scented bags that are always on sale this time of year at Michael's. I think there were about 15 per bag. And boy are they scented. It doesn't bother me so much when they're outside, but I think the smell might be too overpowering for an indoor wreath. So you might want to go the unscented route if you plan on hanging your wreath inside. 
One of the reasons I thought this would be a perfect DIY wreath was because I already had the dried orange slices from my garland project

To attach the oranges, I just strung 3 at a time with wire and tied them to a pinecone in the front of the wreath. 

The completed wreath is pretty heavy. I made a hanger with the floral wire on the back. I don't recommend hanging with ribbon. 
I snapped this picture on such a gloomy day, yet my front door still looks cheery, don't you think? 

I love the way this turned out! And it's festive enough for the holidays, but doesn't scream "Christmas!" so I think I might just leave it up all winter. 

Supplies
18" 4-ring wire wreath frame
about 80 to 100 pinecones
22 gauge wire
wire cutters
heavy duty work gloves

2nd photo via James the Farmer. 




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