Wow Your Guests With a Pine Cone Tree!

DesertRose
by DesertRose
5 Materials
$5
4 Hours
Easy
Pine cone trees will wow all your guests and family coming for the holidays. From a center piece on the table or mantle to elegant decor in each bedroom, these trees are delightful. The days are filled with crisp autumn air that makes family dream of home and celebrating with loved ones. These make great gifts, decorations in smaller rooms, and can even be used to adorn the holiday table. You only need pine cones and a foam center cone for your materials to begin. Decorate it in many ways: to your own taste, a theme, to please a loved one, or the favorite color of any room in the house.
For materials, gather at least two sizes or types of cones. I found the cones of the Douglas fir are small to fill in gaps where the larger cones made the best tree bulk. I had no foam center cone and no craft store in our small town sold one large enough to make a 2 foot tree. A friend donated the flat foam for me to make a center. I will walk you through my inspiration to make the tree cone. You will also need tooth picks, ties or decoration wire to use as ties, a glue gun with 5 to 10 glue sticks, and your choice of decorations. The photo includes a beveled knife because I carved my own cone center.
I cut the foam so I had a tree shape. I saved the pieces cut off to use together for another layer. I kept cutting foam until they were all about the same shape and then glued them together.
I had 2 center pieces shaped like a flat tree and 4 half pieces I joined with hot glue to give my flat tree some depth to carve my own cone. If you are able to purchase a center foam cone, you may skip down to attaching the pine cones.
With the four layers of flat foam glued together, I turned the tree sideways and drew a rough tree shape. Notice it was not perfect. No tree is perfectly shaped and the round cones would help form the final shape. Then I cut the corners off outside the drawn lines to begin shaping a 3 dimensional tree. A beveled knife made it very easy.
In the first photograph with the 2 types of cones, you will notice one cone has a wire and tooth pick attached. Pushing the toothpicks from a downward direction into the foam, I began attaching the cones. The hot glue was applied to each toothpick and wire to add stability to ensure the cones stayed on the tree. I placed them together as closely as I could fit them, but there were gaps where the foam was showing. I did not worry about the small gaps until I finished applying all the larger cones all the way to the top. I applied the hot glue directly to the smaller Douglas Fir cones and pushed them into the gaps.


Then I added battery lighted miniature lights and blue and silver decorations with a few candy cane decorations and balls.
I had a small star so I bought the blue bows to match. The other decorations I had on hand from previous years of miniature fake trees. Real pine cone trees are so beautiful. I also added a touch of cinnamon oil for fragrance, but you don't have to add anything. The pine cones smell wonderful and fill a small room with their fresh wood fragrance.
Suggested materials:
  • Pine cones of two varieties   (City parks, or buy at Walmart, Amazon)
  • Foam   (Gifted to me for the tree)
  • Decorations   (I had most on hand, Walmart for bows and lights)
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  2 questions
  • Patty Patty on Nov 07, 2017

    How many cones did you end up using? The tree is beautiful.

  • Coa22134591 Coa22134591 on Nov 07, 2017

    can you use real pine cones?

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