In recent years, the concept of a zero-budget, zero-waste Christmas has become extremely popular. With DIY projects becoming simpler and simpler, each of us is able to roll up our sleeves to make our own handmade decoration. If you use everyday materials or those collected in nature, then so much the better! In the following lines, we are going to give you 5 fantastic ideas for making a decoration with pine cones for Christmas that stands out from the crowd.

Discover our 5 Christmas DIY ideas using pine cones

Mini Christmas trees made from pine cones

Materials

• pine cones (height 10-12 cm)
• wooden slices (4 to 6 cm in diameter)
• small colorful pompoms
• green acrylic paint
• cotton balls
• sheet of paper or glitter foam
• glue (transparent and hot)

Collect your recycled and DIY materials

1. Start by painting your pine cones. These are quite difficult to cover with an even coat of paint, due to their uneven shape. Do not panic ! There is no need to paint to perfection, because nothing is perfect in nature. If you leave small brown spots unpainted, you will even give a more natural look to your mini trees. Let them dry completely once painted.
2. Next, take care to cut the small sticks below your pine cones. This is important so that you can glue them flat afterwards.
3. Using a hot glue gun, attach the pine cones to the wooden slices. Note that regular glue probably wouldn’t hold.
4. Take a few cotton balls, stretch them and stick them to the base around your pinecone tree. The idea is that they look like snow.
5. Once the paint on the pine cone has dried well, continue by gluing the small pompoms as Christmas decorations.
6. Cut a star out of the glitter paper and then attach it to the top of the tree.

Start by painting the pine cone

Glue the pompoms

Here are our decorated and colorful mini trees

©madetobeamomma.com

Pine cone Christmas tree decorations

Materials

• cones
• transparent glue for DIY
• ribbon or hook for ornaments
• glitter
• bowl
• foam brush

All you need are pine cones and glitter

1. If you are using your own pine cones, start by cleaning off any debris and dirt with a damp cloth.
2. Then, remember to bake your pine cones in the oven for an hour at 100ºC. This would chase away parasites that may nest in the natural pine cone. Monitor the process, as the sap from pine cones is flammable.
3. Dip the foam brush in the glue and begin brushing the tips of your pine cone with it. Work all the tips, coating them with enough glue to catch and hold the glitter in place.
4. Place the pinecone in a bowl and sprinkle with glitter, tilting it to make sure all sides are evenly coated. Once the pine cone is decorated, lift it and shake lightly to remove excess glitter. Leave it to rest on the side for approximately one night, while the decoration hardens. Decorate all the pine cones in this same way.
5. Attach the end of an ornament ratchet to the point of the pine cone. As an alternative, tie a ribbon the same way and hang on the tree to decorate.

Coat with glue

Sprinkle with glitter

Mount hooks

Decorate the Christmas tree

©thesprucecrafts.com

Potpourri with pine cones

Materials

• cones
• Dishwashing liquid
• baking tray
• aluminum foil
• kitchen gloves
• zip bag
• spray bottle
• rosemary essential oil
• cloves
• cinnamon sticks

1. First clean the pine cones by soaking them in a solution of hot water and dishwashing liquid.
2. Line a baking sheet with foil and arrange the pine cones on it. Cook them at 100°C for about an hour, monitoring the cooking. The opening of the pine cones as you go is a sign of successful cooking to observe.
3. Then remove the dried scales from the pine cones and spread them on a towel. Let it sit for one to two days, until they are completely dry.
4. Simmer the cloves and cinnamon sticks a little over the fire. Let cool to room temperature.
5. Collect the cooking water from the cloves and cinnamon sticks and add a few drops of rosemary essential oil.
6. Spray the scales and whole pine cones with the concoction. Sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered cloves for an even more intense scent.
7. Place overnight in a zip-top bag to let it infuse well.
8. Create your homemade potpourri by placing the scales and pine cones in a pretty bowl, with dried orange slices and pine branches.

Start by cooking the pine cones

Embalming scales and pine cones

A bowl that is both decorative and fragrant

©bybrittanygoldwyn.com

Christmas centerpiece with pine cones in a vase

Materials

• cones
• long wooden skewers
• hot glue
• drill and drill bit approximately 8 cm in diameter
• brush and acrylic paint
• vase
• floral foam

A wonderful Christmas centerpiece made from beautifully arranged pine cones

1. If you have collected your own pine cones, then start by cleaning and boiling them, as in previous tutorials. Otherwise, continue with the following steps.
2. Then start by drilling a shallow hole below each pine cone. Generally, the hole should be large enough to attach wooden skewers using hot glue. It is therefore not necessary to go into great depth.
3. Then, decorate your pine cones and color the tips of the scales with acrylic paint. Add other decorations as you like – glitter, artificial snow, etc.
4. Once the paint has dried, pour a little glue into each drilled hole and directly stick the flat bot of the wooden skewer inside. Hold like this for around twenty seconds, while the skewer attaches to it and the glue dries.
5. To keep the stems of the pine cone flowers secure without moving, consider inserting a piece of floral foam into the bottom of the vase where you plan to store them.
6. Plant a stem in the middle of the moss and then arrange the rest around it in a symmetrical fashion. Between the stems you can insert other decorations, like holly branches or fake white berries.
7. Use as a centerpiece for Christmas.

Simple and clever DIY to create charming seasonal decoration

©instrupix.com

Little pine cone Christmas elves

Materials

• cones
• acrylic paint white/brown color
• brush
• wooden beads
• small colorful pompoms
• black/red marker
• Red ribbon
• little red bell
• colorful felt scraps
• pencil
• scissors
• hot glue gun

1. Start by drawing a semi-circle in a piece of red felt and cut it out. Form it into a cone, which would act as Santa’s hat. Cut a thin white strip and glue it to the bottom of the hat. Glue a white pompom to the end of the hat.
2. Next, attach the hat to a wooden bead using glue.
3. Draw eyes and cheeks and glue the red pompom as a nose.
4. Attach Santa’s head to the top of the pine cone.
5. To make a beard, finally glue the white pompom.
6. Proceed in the same way to make the rest of the Christmas men.

Little pine cone men that you can make in kindergarten