Pinecone Topiary

I wanted to share these topiaries I created last week just in case you didn't catch the Handmade Holiday series over at Under the Table and Dreaming
I absolutely love looking at them and I will be creating a bigger one. Hope you enjoy!

Here is what you will need:

2-12" STYROFOAM brand foam cones

Hot Glue Gun

Mod Podge

Burnt Umber Craft Paint

Gold Spray Paint (not pictured)

Martha Stewart Glitter in White Gold

Heavy Duty Scissors

Paint Brush

Pinecones

I have always collected pinecones and have them readily available, but if you can't harvest them yourself, you can certainly buy them by the bag at your local craft store (and they are usually scented, bonus!).

The very first thing I did before I cut was mist each pinecone with gold spray paint, not total coverage, just enough to give them a little metallic sparkle.

Once the gold paint dried, I cut the 'petals' off of three medium (6") size pinecones. I thought that it would take a lot more, but only three. Using heavy duty scissors, cut off all the petals and set them aside. It might look difficult, but I promise, it is really easy. With the heavy duty scissors, I was done in no time.

Next, paint the foam cone with burnt umber craft paint and let dry. This is so you don't have any white peeking out from in between the petals.

Once your foam cone is dry, it's time to start gluing the petals on. This process went really quickly. Don't waste your time gluing each petal on one, by one, go ahead and run a line of glue and line the petals up side by side. Do not worry about the cut ends being perfectly straight, the ends will be covered by the next row.

Keep gluing the petals on, in an over-lapping brick pattern. See how the gold paint gives it just a little bit of light?


Once you reach the top, invert and glue some of the petals to keep the cone shape

Once you have covered the entire cone with petals, now it is time to add a little glitter.

Using a paint brush, lightly brush Mod Podge on the petals. Do as much or as little as you'd like.

Sprinkle glitter on the wet Mod Podge, and knock off excess. The glitter really adds a finishing touch and really, what project doesn't look good with glitter? :)
I worked around the topiary, row by row, the Mod Podge dries too quickly to try to cover the whole thing, so just work in sections.

Once everything has dried, you have created beautiful Pinecone Topiaries! They look beautiful alone, but I did elevate one on a vintage brass candleholder, to add some height. I adore the rustic, woodland feel of them and love the added sparkle!

They are certainly a welcome addition to my holiday decor and now I want to make bigger ones!