Five tips to sparkly-cute winter pine cones
I was recently given some beautiful and ginormous pine cones. I knew these couldn’t go to waste. So, I tried a few options to turn these winter staples into home decor of my own.

There’s several ways you can decorate your pine cones, I tried three options and learned a few things along the way.

Tip #1: Bake your pine cones
This seems weird, right? Well, your pine cones won’t start on fire and it will get rid of any bugs or mildew that might have been growing on them. I learned a little trick from FoodStorageMoms.com to cook your pine cones in your oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours.

And don’t forget to put foil on your cookie sheets. The sap is extremely hard to remove. I learned this the hard way. I had to throw my cookie sheets out.
Tip #2: Modge Podge is your friend
A really easy way to decorate your pine cones is to paint each tip with a generous amount of Extreme Glitter Modge Podge. It has glitter in the glue already, so when it dries, it will have a subtle glitter effect.

You can take it one step further and dump a whole bunch of glitter onto the Modge Podge. Then shake off the excess glitter into a bowl. Don’t forget the bowl or you’ll waste all that extra glitter that you can re-use.

Tips #3: Don’t dump, spray instead
Yes, I poured a bunch of white paint all over my pine cones. It seems like a cool idea. And it was fun to watch (see video below), but it was so gloppy. It got in every nook and cranny and it wasted a ton of paint and a lot of the beautiful detail. Click here to learn how to spray paint your pine cone instead.
With that being said, I was still able to salvage my paint-covered pine cones with a little bit of glitter. They still turned out really cute.

Tip #4: Less is more
Instead of glopping on a bunch of paint, my friend gave me the idea to just add a bit of white paint to the tips. It looks just like snow. Very cute.

Tip #5: Pine cones aren’t just for Christmas
Pine cones are very versatile. You can do so much with them. Try making a framed flower decor or a Halloween pine cone wreath, or even pine cone zinnias.

Other stuff about pine cones on Pinterest that you’ll love:
- Decorating with pine cones
- Pine cone wreath tutorial
- Cute pine cone crafts for kids
- How to make pine cone fire starters
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