Flower Pine Cones & Twig Wreath

Stipple the colours onto the hoop so that they blend together nicely but they don’t need to be seamlessly blurred. The colours in my twigs looked patchy so if the colours on the hoop blurred together too well, it would still stand out.

 

 

Check as you go to see how your hoop-twig blend is looking then set the hoop aside to dry once you’re happy with it.

 

 

Again, this painting step is completely optional in case you’re thinking ‘that’s a lot of effort to disguise the hoop’. 👍🏻

 

 

STEP FOUR – MAKING THE BUNDLES & WREATH

 

 

Tie small bundles of twigs together with twine. Include twigs of varying size so that the bundles look random.

 

 

For my 12 inch hoop, I made roughly 15 bundles of approx 10 twigs per bundle.

 

 

You want the bundles themselves to look fairly uniformed, the randomness is related to the twigs within the bundles.

 

 

Bring back the hoop and lay the first bundle on the front of the hoop frame.

 

 

Use another piece of twine to secure this to the hoop.

 

 

Lay the 2nd bundle on top of the first but slightly further around the hoop. Tie this in place too.

 

 

Use as much twine as is needed to keep the bundles in place. Don’t worry about how visible the twine is at this stage, it will be removed later on. Also, don’t worry if your wreath feels loose and rickety right now, the structural integrity will come from glue that will be applied later.

 

 

Keep going until you’ve attached all your bundles or as many as you like.

 

 

It may even be worth making your bundles as you go so you don’t make too many unnecessarily 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

 

STEP FIVE – GLUING THINGS DOWN

 

 

Once the shape of your wreath looks good and everything is laying roughly in the right place, it’s time to tighten things up.

 

 

Turn the wreath over and, using a hot glue gun, start gluing the bundles to the frame and then to each other.

 

 

Try to be strategic with the glue so as not to let the glue show through to the from front. The shininess of it can be quite a contrast to the matte twigs.

 

 

Add as much glue as is needed, even within bundles, so that everything holds together.

 

 

Once the glue has hardened start removing all the twine that is visible from the front.

 

 

Don’t worry about removing the twine you can’t really see, it won’t make much of a difference in terms of the overall look and by leaving it there it should help maintain the structure.

 

 

Cut through the twine with scissors and either pull the twine away if possible or cut both ends as short as possible so there’s less chance of them being seen.

 

 

If needed, add extra glue to the areas that once had twine.

 

 

You should be left with a solid, sturdy structure that holds as one.

 

 

STEP SIX – DECORATIONS

 

 

Using gardening shears, chop up your pine cones into 3 pieces.

 

 

The top part makes a small spiky looking flower, the middle part gives that generic flower look and then the bottom looks sort of like a dahlia if turned upside down.

 

 

You can make a 4th type of flower by pulling the bottom few prongs off of the small spiky flower and gluing them to it’s side making a more compact, bud-like flower as shown in my pic above.

 

 

Paint the flowers however you like. This basically determines the whole look of the wreath so plan what colour scheme you want to go for.

 

 

Bright oranges and yellows would be lovely for summer and if mixed cleverly with other key shades would probably cross over nicely into fall 👍🏻

 

 

I’m not against making a wreath for every season but if I really like one that I’ve made, I want to keep it up for as long as possible. I don’t like feeling as though I have to take it down as soon as a new season comes along.

 

 

I went with cool blues and pinks, with varying shades of white and grey, which look great for winter and spring!

 

 

I also add faux foliage to my wreath. Add real foliage if you prefer but I personally like knowing it isn’t going to break or disintegrate.

 

 

I sponge on rose gold, white and silver to give it a pretty and frosty look.

 

 

If you’re making that summer/fall wreath, I think gold would work well.

 

 

STEP SEVEN – ASSEMBLY

 

 

With all your individual elements completed, it’s time to assemble them into one beautiful piece.

 

 

Start by gluing the foliage in place around the twigs. I focus on the lower half of my wreath for this.

 

 

I also have in mind that I want my flowers to be concentrated to the lower half of the wreath and slightly to one side. It might be worth planning your composition out too.

 

 

Hot glue the backs of your pine cone flowers and hold them in place.

 

 

Use the little ones to fit into small gaps that have been created and add flowers to the inside of the wreath too – not so far inside that the wreath has trouble laying flat when you hang it up though.

 

 

Keep going until you’ve used as many of your pine cones as desired.

 

 

Use this opportunity to snip at any rouge or gangly twigs that look out of place so that the overall look is exactly how you want it.

 

 

Then all that’s left to do is hang it up and show it off!

 

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. Let me know if you think you’ll give it a go!

 

 

Please remember to check out my YouTube Channel and consider subscribing, that would be amazing! 👍🏻

 

 

I also have an Etsy Store where I sell lots of handmade goodies so feel free to check that out too.

 

 

Thanks again so much for viewing my post today and until next time,

 

 

Happy crafting x