Emily Gets Crafty: Pine Cone Christmas Ornament

Two craft posts in one week? I tend to make a HUGE mess when I'm feeling creative so I try to get it all out my system at once. Besides, this adorable pine cone ornament will be totally irrelevant in a few days.

I love this craft it's easy, it's pretty quick (took me less than 45 minutes), and it makes a GREAT gift. I set out to just model the first few steps for you and then via the wonders of the internet present one that is already done (ie: one I made last year), but I was having so much fun I accidentally made the whole ornament!

Here's what we're going for:

  
Supplies:
-Paper trimmer (or scissors/ruler)
-1 sheet of scrapbooking paper
-a Styrofoam egg from a craft store
-small straight pins
-ribbon/twine

Start by cutting 1"X1" squares of paper. Take a square and gently crease it down the middle (not folding, more like bending). Then take two corners and fold them toward the midline, the result should look like this:

Next start to affix the pieces of paper to your egg. The points of the paper should be facing down toward the narrow end of the egg. Attach them with two straight pins in either upper corner.

 Your pine cone will look terrible at first...don't worry, as more of the pieces of paper are attached they will start to lie more uniformly. I usually pin four pieces to the bottom to form a point (this is when it looks the worst). From there work your way around the egg slowly spiraling upward overlapping the pieces so that none of the egg shows through underneath.

Work your way to the top of the pinecone, in the end you should have a small empty circle at the top. Mine in the picture is a little bit bigger than normal because I was just using scraps of paper and ran out, but even a circle this big is okay.

 I then cut a "wiggly" circle out of a coordinating piece of paper, fold it in half one way and cut a slit perpendicular to the fold, then fold it in half the other way and cut another the slit, the result is an "X", this is what we'll use to attach the ribbon to.

Finally, make a loop with your ribbon knotting it at one and and stick the loop up through the "X" you just cut. The knot will keep the ribbon from slipping out. You can then either attach the top with straight pins or with hot glue/craft glue if you have it. The top will not lie flat, it's not supposed to, that's why we cut a "wiggly" circle so it would look good with the ripples.

And VOILA! Pine Cone ornament, perfect to enjoy on your tree or be given as a gift