Nature-Inspired Christmas

I love to change up my Christmas decorations every year, and usually make most of them myself. This year I've had a lot of fun playing around with my sewing machine, and I made some paper circle garland that I sewed together in greens, whites and painted some paper in metallics. I draped them on my mantel and piano for bright pops of color. I took a walk in a local park to collect the large sticks to make the star that I put above my mantel. I simply wired each connecting point together and I was done. The pine cone door decorations were a Pinspiration. They were incredibly easy to make too. I just used ribbon with drop of hot glue on the end to tie on the pine cones. The green one was made by cutting strips of burlap, gluing and tying in the same way.

Seems like we always get the itch to paint something this time of year, so this year it was the bay window wall. We painted it a dramatic charcoal called "Evening Hush" by Behr. I love how dramatic it looks, especially with light curtains and wall art. I drew the "Mistletoe" sign with chalk on my framed chalkboard on the same wall. This year we cut down a huge tree as tall as our 8 1/2 foot ceilings and placed it in a galvanized tub like last year. Merry Christmas!

Candy Corn Pinecone Owls

"Hoo" thinks these owls are cute? Or, maybe you think they're so ugly they're cute? Well, these little guys have been making me smile ever since I created them with my kids a few weeks ago. Even at their ages of 19 mos. and 3 years, they could at least help me collect the supplies outside and paint the eyes (and eat candy corn pieces along the way).

This project is so easy you really don't need much of a tutorial, but I will go through some steps and tips for you so you can have your very own adorable owl on display!

You will need :
-1 large pinecone for each owl (I cheated and used store bought cinnamon ones because I couldn't find the fat ones anywhere outside...they smell really good! )
-2 small pinecones for the wings (we did collect these under a pine tree in my neighborhood)
-4 acorn tops
-acrylic craft paint (I used yellow, white and dark brown)
-bag of candy corn (9 pieces per owl)
-low temp glue gun
-scissors

-First, I had the kids paint the inside of two acorn tops yellow and allowed to dry. Then added a dot of white to each center for the "eyes". Allowed to dry and finished the eyes with a small dot of dark brown.

-Next, I hot glued two acorn tops face down to the bottom to help the owl stand up straight.

-I added the candy corn to the center of the pinecone for the nose, and two at the top for feather tufts. Here's a little helpful hint: I had to snip off small parts of the pinecone to make room for the candy corn.

-Here's a BIG hint: To avoid melting the candy corn, hot glue the PINECONE first, then add the corn.

-After the candy corn is firmly glued to the pinecone, I added the two eyes with hot glue.

candy corn talons

-To finish, I cut off 6 candy corn ends (the white part) with scissors for the owl "talons". Follow the same tip to hot glue the acorn feet FIRST to avoid melting the candy.

-Attach the talons and you're done!

A tall and short owl for each of my sons

Hi there! Let me know if you liked this project or if you have any questions...thanks for reading!