Probably the most simple, tried and true kids craft, glitter pine cone ornaments are timeless, if done correctly.
Somehow, God granted me the privilege of living in front of a grove of towering, whispering pines, which had a nice crop of pine cones on the floor for me to collect - free of charge of course.
After I cleaned all the resin and needles out of them, I went to work.
The first step in making a successful pine cone ornament, or at the very least a decorative pine cone, is fastening a tie to the stem of the cone. This way, you can hang it as an ornament, or after hanging it to dry, you can remove the ribbon.
While holding the ornament by the tie and using regular school glue, cover the tips lightly with glue. I made the mistake of using too much glue the first time, and it dripped while drying.
Then, using fine glitter, lightly dust the tips. As with first-grade Glitter 101, make sure you keep your glitterings over a paper plate or newsprint, and save the excess to use again. My choice of glitter this time was the Martha Stewart collection of reds I bought on sale at Wal-Mart for $5. The package said it's for stamping crafts, but is way more valuable to me for other things and giving a little razzle dazzle to ordinary projects.
To go with the glitter cones, I tried spray-painting several other cones a bronze color with leftover paint from my earlier lamp project. They didn't turn out quite like I wanted them to (I think I went too heavy on the paint), and in the painting process, had the paint leak from my crafting cloth onto my patio table.
I liked the cones better as a center piece, so I grouped them all in a crystal bowl I had my grandma dig out of her basement when I visited for Thanksgiving.
Cost of project: $0.50. I probably used less than a quarter's worth of glitter and about a quarter's worth of spray paint. What an awesome way to make a cheap decoration!
