How To Make Pretty Scented Pinecones

I was at the grocery store recently.  As I walked in the front doors, there was a table with all sorts of pretty Autumn decorations for sale.  Since ’tis the season, I stopped and looked for a minute.

The thing that caught my eye was a mesh bag filled with scented pinecones.  I picked it up and sniffed…cinnamon.  The smell of holidays!

I turned the bag over, and you are not going to believe what I saw.  A price tag…

…FOR TEN DOLLARS!!!

Ten dollars for six smelly pinecones unimpressively shoved inside a plain mesh bag.  What in the world was hiding inside that mesh bag that had a value anywhere near ten dollars?!?

I thought to myself, “I could make this.”  Ideas for improving that plain bag of smelly pinecones, and for coming out spending much less than ten dollars were flooding my brain.

Challenge accepted.

So the rest of that shopping trip I was there in body, but not really in spirit.  I can’t believe I somehow made it out with groceries and all three children, for the entire time my mind was at the craft store plotting my prettier, cheaper bag of delightfully fragrant pinecones.

Several days later, here’s how it all went down…

How To Make Pretty Scented Pinecones

1. Take a trip outside to the nearest pine tree.  Gather as many pinecones as you think you need.  I prefer small ones, but I’m sure the big ones would work, too.  And don’t worry about them being fully opened or not…there’s a little trick for that coming up.  🙂
2. Bring home your pinecones and place them in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Bake them for 20 minutes at 250 degrees.  This will sanitize them, as well as open up the tight ones.
3. While they are cooling, get your spices ready.  Use equal parts cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice.  Pour all of it into an empty salt shaker.
4. For the remaining steps, you are going to want to work outside.  Spread out a large canvas drop cloth, or maybe some old newspaper.  In order to get your pinecones to stand up while you’re working on them, place several large muffin tins underneath the drop cloth.
5. Press all of your pinecones into each dip of the muffin tins.  Make sure that they are all standing up straight.  Then take your spray glue and start spraying!  Only do three or four at a time, because the glue dries fast and you have to sprinkle all of your spices on.
6. After you have coated a few of your pinecones with the glue, sprinkle on as much of the spice mixture as you want.  Let dry for one to two hours.
7. Once they are dry, it’s time to assemble and decorate!  (the fun part!)  I used a roll of red mesh, a roll of burlap, and three different colors of raffia.  I wanted to make a set for Autumn and a set for Christmas.

Roll and wrap however you would like.  To make the Autumn pinecones, I cut two strips of burlap about 1 1/2 feet long and criss-crossed them.  I laid a few pinecones in the middle and then brought the burlap up to the middle.  I twisted the burlap some so that the pinecones would show through.  I then fastened it with some pretty purple raffia.  Yay!

For the Christmas pinecones, I used the red mesh.  I just cut one large piece, set the pinecones in the middle, and tied it at the top with some neutral-colored raffia.  Pretty!

I figured that each bundle of pinecones cost me about $1.75 to make.

Me: 1
Retailers: 0

Anyway, it was a fun project, and they turned out nice.  Anyone out there have a different method for making scented pinecones?  Or maybe a different spice blend?  I’d love to hear!

Lauren Souers

Hi, my name is Lauren. I am the wife of one fine man and the momma of four (huge) young children – three boys and one princess! I love all of them. I mostly clean up messes and feed people all day, and it’s really fun to write about it. Jesus is the rock of my family – we love and serve a mighty King! I hope you leave here full of hope that “tired” can be good.