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Monday, December 6, 2010

Acorn Cap Ornament

Hi and welcome to another installment of my tiny series of handmade holiday ornaments! Thanks so much for the sweet comments on the mini house tour. Now lets make something!


Back in the early fall when the oak trees on my in law's property were dropping acorns like crazy, every step you took was a crunch, crunch, crunch, Logan and I harvested a few zip lock bags full. I used them for decorating during fall, and I wanted to incorporate them into Christmas as well. I thought they would look neat as an ornament.

Here is what you will need:
Acorn caps
Burnt Umber craft paint (and brush)
3" Styrofoam ball
Jute twine
Small piece of floral wire (18 gauge)
Narrow ribbon
Silver glitter (or your choice of color)
Mod Podge
Hot glue gun
First paint the styrofoam ball with burnt umber, this is just so you don't see the white of the foam. You could find a closer match to the color of the acorns if you want, burnt umber is what I had on hand.
Next start pushing the caps into the foam. Hot glue might be necessary for this part. While a lot of them stayed pretty well, if they are loose, just put a little dab of glue in the indention and stick the cap back on.
Get the caps as close as you can and work your way all the way around. Do not try to get it perfect, there will be gaps, but that's why we painted the ball in the first place. To attach the jute twine hanger, cut a length of twine about six inches. Take the floral wire and cut a piece about 3 inches long, bend it in half to make something that resembles a hair pin. Fold the twine in half and use the wire 'pin' to anchor the twine to the ball. Push the wire all the way in, if it doesn't seem secure, put a dab of glue. Tie a knot on the end of the string and the hanger is ready.

Now that all of the caps are covering the ball, use Mod Podge and brush a little across the edges of the caps. While the glue is still wet, sprinkle on glitter. I used silver, but I think gold would be nice or even brownstone. I tie some pretty ribbon the the top and it's ready to hang!

Of course if you don't want to hang them, they would make great bowl fillers too. Just complete all the steps and don't add the jute.
I hope you are inspired to try this! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Joining Kate.
UndertheTableandDreaming
Visit thecsiproject.com


31 comments:

  1. What a beautiful natural ornament this makes. There are certainly plenty of acorn caps around the neighborhood. I'm going to make note of this and make some next year. Thanks for sharing the idea. ~ Sarah

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  2. Michelle, you never cease to amaze me with your creativity!
    Instead of cursing those blasted acorns (all over the place), I'm going to put them to [beautiful] use here.

    Love you girl!! xo ~m.

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  3. Fabulous idea...wish l had access to lots of acorns
    Thanks for sharing x

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  4. Wow, great project and we do have lots of those laying around.

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  5. What a beautiful decoration. I love the browns and golds that come through as well as the unique shape that the acorn caps provide. What a great piece. If you would like to share it further, you welcome to participate in my party -- the Boardwalk Bragfest occurring today. It's a lot of fun, and I think others would equally enjoy this unique ornament.

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  6. Such a simple idea but so beautiful..my parents have a million acorns...will have to go grab a few and give this a try

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  7. Great project! I have a lot of acorns I collected this fall. They are still sitting in a bag on my dining room table...time to get them out!
    Jane

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  8. This ornament is beautiful. I love using nature on my tree. Just may have to log this one in the memory bank. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. What a great idea, believe it or not or pugs are ALWAYS eatting acorns so there are plenty of caps up for grabs :+)

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  10. I totally and completely LOVE this!! Thanks!!

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  11. I Love this idea.Its a beautiful ornament and perfect to do with kids too!

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  12. So cute! I love the natural look with a little glitter glam :)

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  13. this is my favorite of all the handmade ornies i have seen.... i love that it combines glitter and nature- two of my favorite things!

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  14. Your ornament is so beautiful I wish I had some acorn tops to play with now! The look is perfect for my rustic elegance look!
    Sarah

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  15. This is great! I love acorns and feel sad when I put them away with Fall decorations. Now I can extend their showing clear through Christmas.

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  16. I'm loving this! It's so different. I tried to incorporate the "natural" theme into our holiday decor this year and ended up just using a ton of pine cones! I could definitely use some acorns too... love it!

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  17. I love this idea. I have a bunch of those acorn caps laying around my yard, I need to get the kids to pick them up for me!

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  18. Oh man, this is a fantastic idea! I love it! I live in Raleigh, NC which is known as the City of Oaks, so I love anything with acorns! Just found you on the link party!

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  19. Oh thank you for this great idea! I have been saving acorn caps in hopes of coming up with something to do with them besides making elf hats or tiny bowls for mice! Our South Florida oak trees produce a much smaller variety of acorn - but the results will still look great! Thanks again for the inspiration! btw - I found you on Under the Table and Dreaming...
    hAndiMom

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  20. What a great idea! You could probably vary the sizes of the balls as well. Love your ideas. I'm saving so many of them. I can see how I'm going to spend this morning - reading all your previous blogs.

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  21. love this! I've featured you on Craft Gossip here
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/9-nature-crafts/

    If you would like a "featured by" button, you can grab one here!
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/

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  22. What a beautiful and homey project. Think I will have my troops gather some while we are in the woods (on a trek to feed our raccoons).

    thanks for the sweet craft idea.

    Kimmie
    mama to 8
    one homemade and 7 adopted

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  23. I have tons of these in my front yard right now!! My daughter and I will be going out to collect some acorns this afternoon and have a fun new craft to do this week! Thanks for the brilliant idea!!

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  24. I have been collecting acorn caps for the last week. I have a PERFECT courtyard that Is covered!! i knew I could create Christmas presents with these -- and you have shown me how!! Thank you so much!!!! Bonnie from Athens, GA . . . Go Dawgs!!!

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  25. I love this project!!! Thanks so much!!

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  26. Could you tell me if you used matte or glossy modge podge?
    Thanks,
    E

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  27. Cool idea! I have a huge oak tree overhanging my pool in my backyard. I'm listening to bloop, bloop, bloop as the acorns fall into the water. Good way to make use of the acorns. Thanks for sharing.

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  28. This DIY has been featured on my blog @ http://missjoysornaments.co...

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  29. Beautiful Michele, i sure wish we had those kind of trees here. If i planted one, i don't think i would still be here to reep the rewards ! Do you know if they are sold anywhere ? As in craft stores or maybe Amazon. Thanks so much for sharing, they really are beautiful.

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Thank You for taking the time to comment! Because of the insane amount of spam comments, I had to stop anonymous comments-sorry for the inconvenience.
Michelle