Here is a quick and easy was to dress up some found treasures for the holidays.
Earlier this fall the kids and I collected bags of pine cones. We ‘cleaned’ the pine cones by placing them on a baking sheet, lined with foil, in the oven at 200F for about 20min. This helps removes some of the sap and kill off any little critters or things (hate to say it… but I also didn’t want a bunch of bugs or worms or something all over my holiday table either). This will of course will also help ensure that they are completely open (see our nature study on pine trees for details).
I then used a spray adhesive (outside – I won’t let the kids near the spray adhesive) to cover the pine cones with glue. You could also use a watered down craft glue and brush. Then the kids got to sprinkle lots of glitter on the pine cones. They loved trying to completely cover them with the glitter.
If you want your pine cones to have a holiday scent I would suggest doing that first. You can brush on cinnamon essential oil and store them in a plastic bags for a couple weeks. See this site for directions. OR you could just buy the pre-scented cones from the craft store.
We will be using the pine cones individually as ornaments and in wreaths.