Pine Cone Hanging

Pretty much everything I make and end up posting here, whether it's food or crafts, I find on Pinterest, so I must give credit to that wonderful place. And here is yet another great Pinterest lead...

Since my cornstalk wreath was no longer in season - fall being over and all - I needed to spruce up the place with something new and festive, and I was still in the mood for a more earthy approach.  Luckily, at Michaels I stumbled upon some cinnamon-scented pine cones for super cheap and knew they would work perfect for something I had been planning to make: a pine cone hanging.

So here the crafting process begins:

I took my pine cones and dug through my extra ribbon stash for a few of the colors I wanted.
     

Then I warmed up my glue gun and put some glue on a ribbon strand...

...and pressed said strand onto one of the tops of a pine cone.

Some of the glue went through the ribbon and onto my fingers and it was a hot, sticky mess. But that's usually how it goes with most of my crafting projects :)

I continued on with as many ribbon strands and pine cones as I felt like. I made sure my ribbon lengths weren't all equal so there would be variation when the pine cones were hanging up.

Then I gathered up all the ribbon and organized them so my pine cones were hanging just as I wanted.

Tying the top of the ribbon strands in a knot to keep everything in place, I then made the top look sorta pretty by tucking in all the loose ends of ribbon so they weren't sticking up everywhere looking unraveled and such.

After looking at it, I decided to add a pop of Christmas color and took one of my daughter's old broken necklaces I had been saving for just this sort of occasion, and glued it into the middle of the knot.

And then I was done! I hung it over my door and we have been enjoying the cinnamon scent wafting from the pine cones throughout the day. Mmm smells like Christmas.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of the gold, silver, and white ribbon now that it's all said and done. When I look at my hanging, I keep wanting brighter ribbon to bring more of a cheery atmosphere and to really make the hanging pop, since the pine cones are pretty neutral.

Despite that, it was an easy, fun craft that cost me all of two dollars. It would have been free if I had gone and found my own pine cones, but I'm pretty sure any pine cones I would have found myself wouldn't have been as nice or smelled as good.

The original site I got the idea from used a picture frame to make hers and it's really cute, so check it out if you want more inspiration.