For The Love Of…Pinecones

Happy Monday!  How was your weekend?  My weekend was so fun.  Saturday I went thrifting all day with my best neighborhood lady friends and we had a blast and came home with a car full of stuff.  I’ll hopefully share my finds later this week.  Sunday we watched our beloved Seahawks go down to the wire and lose, giving up their quest to play at the Super Bowl.  It was a great game though, especially the 4th quarter!

Today I wanted to continue with a series that I lovingly call For The Love Of and today it’s all about Pinecones!

It all started when we took a trip to Oregon last summer and I gathered a couple bags full of pinecones from the Ponderosa Pine Trees .

I’ve spray painted them, and glittered them.  I’ve also left them plain in a weathered box on the front porch.

During the Christmas season I didn’t share a post on it, but I made a ribbon and pinecone banner for my neighbor’s fireplace.  It was as simple as inserting cup hooks in the end of the pinecone, then running the ribbon through.

I love natural elements like pinecones.  Have you decorated with natural elements before?

For other For the Love of articles see:

• For The Love of Buttons
• For The Love of Contact Paper
• For The Love of Spray Paint

-renee

Blue Christmas Corner

I’ve had so much fun this year unpacking decorations and deciding where to put them.  Because, you see, this year is so much different.  Last year at this time I had just had surgery for a shattered wrist and had  a cast on my arm.  My sweet sis-in-law and niece decorated for me and I went with just a few decorations.  In fact, I didn’t even put up a tree, but instead filled a container with branches and ornaments.  This year we have our tree up and decorated and my branches  and vase moved to a corner of my entryway along with some other favorite items of mine.

I’m sharing with you today my little blue Christmas corner.

There’s lot’s going on here.  The vase itself has made quite the evolution and you can read all about it by going to my Project Gallery.  I’ve got an entire section dedicated to Christmas crafts.  Here’s a closer look.

 

My reindeer are the same as last year.  I didn’t change a thing after the spray paint treatment and I even kept the same ribbon around their necks.

 

The blue candle sticks are also an item making a second year appearance.  Last year they were in the living room.  I like them here in the blue corner.  Two of the three are placed near a clear glass Dollar Store vase.  I filled the vase with the same garland I used on the mantel this year, then stuffed a candle in it.

 

My new little crafty thing is this small vignette within the blue vignette and I think I’ll just save the simple details and additional pics for another post.

To the right of this is a treasure chest of ornaments found at Home Goods and Kohls.  It’s one of my favorite things, so glittery and inviting.  I added a fau pearl string of Christmas beads I had in my stash.  The tin is a curbside free find that I spray painted white last summer.

It doesn’t matter which way I enter the house, through the garage or the front door, I see this area first and I really like it.

There you have it, my little blue corner celebrating Christmas.

Do you have any vignettes scattered through your house?

-renee

I’m joining a few partays!  Tatertots and Jello. Southern Hospitality, House of Hepworths

Pinecone and Cinnamon Basket

I love the smell of cinnamon.  It just opens up the breathing airways, doesn’t it?  I’ve had a huge bag of pinecones in my garage since summer,  We were in Oregon at the Golf course and I stopped at every Ponderosa Pine tree I saw!

I found bags of Cinnamon sticks at Michaels and I had an old basket.  I dressed it up with some ribbon trim and now I have a simple and smell-good decoration in my family room where we usually hang out.

What simple but nice decorations do you put together?

-renee

DIY – Painted Pinecones, Pinterest Inspired

Today I’m talking pinecones.  I saw theses beautiful pastel colored ones not too long ago when surfing Pinterest.  In fact, I pinned the idea to my DIY and Craft Inspired board.

source

Back in early summer I posted about our trip to some Oregon golf courses and my obsessive determination to pick up and bring home every pinecone that had fallen from the Ponderosa Pines.  i’m talking huge and gorgeous pinecones.  Read about that here.

So I grabbed some Ponderosa pinecones and some smaller ones saved from my neighborhood walks and some Rustoleum’s gold, turquoise and light blue spray paint.  Here’s what I ended up with.  They look so pretty in my newly painted living room (yes, post still coming).

What about you?  Have you decorated with pinecones?  Happy Wednesday!

-renee

Pinecones and Golf Courses

I mentioned before we were on vacation for a 2 weeks not too long ago.  My son was playing in a couple of golf tournaments so he flew from Orlando and we picked him up in Portland.  The first tournament was held at the Royal Oaks Golf and Country Club in Vancouver, WA.  I The course was an easy walk and the staff did a wonderful job.  The course from green to tee was in perfect condition.

The second tournament was in Bend Oregon where I totally fell in love with.  It’s high desert area just past Mt. Hood. Many retirees, especially from California.

The golf course, Broken Top, was beautiful, established many years ago,  They had huge huge Ponderosa Pines which we don’t have in Seattle.

The pinecones were falling and I’ve never seen any this big or beautiful.  So of course I got a bag and started picking them up.  At first my hubby thought I was crazy, but it wasn’t too long before he was helping me.

I can’t wait to put these to use; tinted with glitter, mixed with cinnamon sticks.  Do you have any ideas?

Happy Monday,

Renee