Pine-Pearl Christmas Ornament

If you've read my blog for very long at all, I guarantee that you already know that I love pinecones.  If you saw my wedding boutineers or decorations, you know I love to use them for craft projects.  I have bags of them that I save for rainy days.

Let me just preface this post:  about one quarter of the way through with this project, I seriously considered giving up and throwing it out.  It really just looked awful (you'll see).  But as with many things in life, just keep at it and it will work out in the end!

Let's get started, shall we?!

Here are my supplies (as well as my hot glue gun and extra glue sticks not photographed).  I'm using an old Christmas bulb, and petals that have been cut off from pinecones.  Wire cutters and needle nose plyers work well for getting them off the pinecone.  

Start at the bottom of the bulb, and glue four petals together with the tips facing the center of the bottom.  

Next, fill the spaces in between.  (This is when I thought about throwing it away.  It gets better.)

Just keep gluing more petals to fill in the spaces.  I started at the bottom with medium sized petals, then gradually worked up to the largest petals in the middle of the bulb.

What it looks like from the bottom...

Gradually move back to medium sized petals as you work toward the top again.  I started getting smaller petals the closer I got to the top.

There's the completed pinecone petal bulb!  You can stop here (and wipe off your glue spider webs), or you can add some additional decorations!

Hanging the pinecone petal bulb on the tree!

I decided it needed a little gloss, something shiny, pretty, and elegant.  I decided pearl beads would do the job perfectly, and hot glued medium and small beads all over the bulb - strategically placing them in spots with holes.

Here it is from the top...

...and from the bottom...

And now a profile of the Pine-Pearl Bauble!

Seeing what it looks like on the tree is always the most exciting part for me!

I think I love it!  Mixing rustic and elegant is one of my favorite things.  :)

I always love comments from my readers!  Tell me, how likely are you to make something like this?  Is it too complex, or right up your alley?