What do you get when you cross a large Pine cone...
with a plastic flower Pot? 
Any guesses?
Dawn, you are a crafter, any ideas from you???
Who said a Potted Pine cone? Well, you are so wrong.
You get a pretty neat looking Bell like the one I have in the picture above!
This is a neat way of recycling plastic pots and preserving Pine cones. I did not make this bell but picked it up at a Christmas market while living in Germany. How clever to turn a simple plastic pot into a work of art. 
It looks simple enough to make but I am sure it is time consuming to glue each piece of the pine cone to the pot. I have had this bell for about 10 years and it continues to give me joy each year when I unpack it from the holiday decorations box. I bet this would be a fun craft for those of you with bored children this winter. Take a try at crossing a PINE CONE AND A POT and see what you can come up with while not, In the Garden... 
The pine cone bell is beautiful! I'm sure you're right about the time it would take to make one.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the time that I spent so much time pushing whole cloves into an orange. Of course, a fresh orange doesn't last long, but it's a wonderful fragrance.
Cameron
Only 62 days until Spring
Skeeter .. when we lived in Holland and visited so many Xmas markets (Aachen Germany was our favorite) but from Dutch, to Belgium and Germany .. the most amazing crafts turned up and we were delighted with them all : )
ReplyDeleteVery cool pine cone pot !!
Skeeter, I love this and was hoping you would include instructions:) It does look like a lot of work, though I do have lots of pine cones and several saved plastic pots. Any suggestions from anyone on the best type of glue to use?
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Everyone,
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely item to be so useful. There are plenty of pine cones in my area. I also have plenty of the plastic pots. Great gift idea.
Thank you so much Skeeter for sharing this very lovely pine bell.
Stay warm all.
Good Morning everyone! We survived what was to be our worse night during this Alberta visit from the North! Prediction of about 9 degrees but we actually went down to only 21 so not so bad after all. Was a cold walk next door to tend to the kitties I am pet sitting though...
ReplyDeleteCameron, Only 62 days to go. I hope it flies by so quickly dont you? My grandmother and I would make those wonderful smelling oranges and cloves! Then we would wrap a pretty red ribbon on them and hang them in the archway! They were pretty and had a great scent! Ah, the memories of my childhood keep being brought up on this blog chat, One more reason for me to Blog :-)…
Gardenjoy, How lucky you were to live in Holland! That was our favorite place to visit while in Europe. The Saint took a few business trips there and I would accompany him and we had the best time. Our favorite zoo we have ever visited is in Rotterdam! The Christmas Markets were so much fun to check out with all the unique hand made items. I collect some cute ornaments and had them hanging on the mantel garland this year. We never made it to Aachen but did visit many villages. Our favorite large market was Rothenberg even though our city of Heidelberg had a really nice one as well. Our favorite small market was Bad Wimpfen (sp?) . Ah, the hot cider or wine sipping while walking in the snow admiring handiwork! I do miss it…
Rose, Ah, good question. I am not sure that hot glue gun would work on plastic as it may not hold for long. I wonder if there are different types of hot glue sticks. Any crafters out there know? When I made crafts with metal, I would use Automotive Goop but it was a bit slow to dry and needing to glue so many pieces, that may not be a practical idea. Hum, I hope someone can answer that question for you. I bet Dawn will know, she is a big time crafter! The bell also is shiny so seems to have some sort of coating to maybe hold it in place also. Not sure what that product would be either.
Dawn, Help us out!!!
Lola, It was my pleasure to show you such a wonder item that can be made by anyone seeking entertainment during this cold spell. Was last night to be your coldest night with this front? How low did it go in FL? Only 21 here and not bad as expected. Sun is shining and it is a beautiful day expect for the temp. I hope Arthur is being nice to you now. Stay Warm and enjoy your day :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful! And it does look a bit hard to make. But what a find. It would even look great in the garden. (Maybe on a porch)
ReplyDeleteGot ya Mary Ellen! Good morning all!
Hi Skeeter, You can tact the petals with a dot of hot glue while having it mostly covered with a liquid glue that is made for plastic. It's covered with a varnish or shellac, I spray my wreaths with a cleat coat only because they are more fragile.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very cute project, I'll have to remember it! Thank's for sharing!
Shoot, forgot to have it emailed. Drats!
ReplyDeletewhen i saw the pinecone and pot i thought of emercing the pine cone in the pot of water to see if it would swell with water and change it's shape or to put the pinecone in the pot of dirt with peanut butter and seeds and put it out for the birds.
ReplyDeletelove your german bell.
The pinecones in my neighboorhood are so sticky with sap that I bet theyd stick to a flowerpot just fine on their own! Martha Stewart had some cute pinecone crafts in her magazine this year - they turned them into birds, penguins, etc.
ReplyDeleteTina, John Boy here, tee hee... This bell was a neat find for me at the market! I have never tried to make one as it does look so tedious. Kind of like your glass on glass doors! Wow, I am still thinking about those beautiful gems....
ReplyDeleteRose, are you reading what Dawn has to say on the glue? I knew she would have a great suggestion...
Dawn, thanks for the advice on the glue! I knew you would really enjoy this posting today. :-) You are so creative with your crafts and I enjoy seeing what you have new each day!
Marmee, Good guesses and I really do like the idea of putting a big pine cone in a pot for the birds! The squirrels would probably drag off the pot and all never to be seen again :-) I sometimes but peanut butter on a pine cone and roll in seed then hang them in the trees but a pot is a wonderful idea! Maybe someone with no squirrel issues will do this. Thanks for the ideas!
JGH, I know what you mean about pine sap being so sticky. I am always dreading when a pine tree falls or we have to cut one down as they are so sticky to deal with. I get the sap on my gloves and all over the place. It is hard to get off my skin too. I have to scrub sometimes until it hurts my skin. Ouch! Martha’s pine cone critters sound neat. I will have to go on-line and see if I can find them...
ReplyDeleteTina, forgot to say, I would like to hang it up outside but fear it would break down over time. I like it too much to have it die on me. So it remains a Christmas deocration inside. sigh, I only get to see it for a month at a time...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! They would look so pretty hanging from a tree.
ReplyDeleteThat is so neat but it does look like tedious work but well worth the effort with the final result.
ReplyDeleteI love it, Skeeter. Look out pine cones.
ReplyDeleteDonna
Well this is a new idea! My yard is full of pine cones. My sister, Tracey, says I don't recycle and reuse enough. This would be a great project for one of those freezing, blizzard type days. Hugs,
ReplyDeleteMy Mothers Garden, They would look great hanging from a tree but I will not do that for fear of a squirrel destroying it or the weather killing it. We have so many squirrels in our yard. Like a dozen at any given time! On the porch was a good thought by Tina but still afraid it would die on me. sigh...
ReplyDeleteJean, so tedious. Can you believe that Tina glued each little glass piece to those doors? Wow, that looks like so much time spent on a project but such a beautiful end result! They are gorgeous!
Donna, Pick up some pine cones and go for it! Let us know how long it takes to make one then maybe I will go for it as well... :-) I stopped picking up pine cones a few years ago when I kept finding baskets filled with them throughout my house. I even used some in the fire pit just to get rid of them. I was not thinking and should have passed a few along to crafters. Sigh, what was I thinking?
Kathleen, Pick up a few pine cones and give it a try! If you have success, give your bell to Tracey and show her how you can now recycle. She would surely get a chuckle from that :-) Hugs back at cha!
Very creative! Lots of detail work in this project! People are so talented and energetic... gail
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteSuch a creative way to recycle a plastic pot and pinecones. Very cute!
ReplyDeleteGail, dont we wish we had that energetic creativity? I think a lot of time when into making this cute pine cone bell. I may have the time if I could stay off the computer :-)
ReplyDeleteKanak, Thanks. We found so many neat handmade things while in the German markets. They had great veggies also!
PG, It is a pretty neat way of recycling something that normally would go to trash. I am happy just to reuse a plastic pot to keep it from the land fill. This will totally keep it out of the heap pile! One mans trash, is another mans treasure...
Since I live in the Piney Woods region of Texas, I have many pine cones. I use them many times to fill up a large pot before I add potting soil. This is so the pot isn't too heavy if you want to move it.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Brenda, What a great idea and wonderful way to use Pine cones! I lived in Killeen, Texas for 5 years and gardening was not easy with the soil. I do not miss that soil and hope to never deal with it again. Is your area better for gardening?
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous craft! That is definitely something I'd like to try. It does look time consuming but not all that difficult. Very cool! Thanks for sharing and for the inspiration Skeeter.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute idea!
ReplyDeleteReally cute --probably would be very time consuming --hmmmmm something to make the kids do on a day they are bored, hahaha. It was much warmer today but now we have some serious wind. At least we had the kiddos out for a walk and then they helped us fetch more firewood to replenish the box on the deck:0) Ciao!
ReplyDeleteHi Skeeter, it got down to 25º here Fri. morning about 5 a.m. It was 27 this morning about 8:30. It could have been colder but I was being lazy & slept late.
ReplyDeleteArthur is still with me. Seems he doesn't want to leave.lol Maybe I should try some wd-40.
Neat! I'm sure many will find this an interesting idea to start a craft project.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, you could set up an assembly line and get the kiddos to finish a bell in no time at all. Sorry no snow for the kiddos but winter is still young and maybe some white stuff in the near future. We had a nice fire in the living room while watching a movie. I was in the recliner all kicked by and soaking up the heat. We will have to bring more wood in tomorrow also. Calling for rain so will be a nasty day...
ReplyDeleteLola, Sorry that meany Arthur will not leave. WD-40, now that was funny. lol I have heard of people using it though so may work. :) Our high today was 41 so not that bad as it could have been much worse. Calling for rain tomorrow though. Dont like that as we had plans for the yard. Maybe it will pass us by...
Blossom, It does look like a fun project even though a bit time consuming...
Another fun idea. Having some unpaid family assistants could make this a great way to assemble some hand-made gifts for the holidays!
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful idea and fun to make too. If only I could get such pine cones!
ReplyDeleteLostlandscape, Thats the way to go. Get the entire family involved and turn it into a fun family project with wonderful inexpensive gifts! Can't beat that...
ReplyDeleteChandramouli, I have so many pine cones in my yard. Wish I could pass a bundle along to you! Sigh, for customs but they are only doing their job. Maybe you can order some over the internet which are Agriculture approved. Have a good day!
What a great bell... looks like an interesting project! /Deb
ReplyDeleteDeb, if you enjoy crafting, give it a try! It looks simple enough but a bit time consuming though. Would make a great gift for a friend or to keep for yourself...
ReplyDeleteI think it might be nice to just turn it back around leave it as a pot! Still glue the pine cone on. Just kind of a new look for the pot! You could just fill it back up with soil and it might be kind of cute.
ReplyDeleteI think it wouldn't take too long to glue those on a pot this size. But, then again, I am the queen of ridiculously tedious projects, so I am probably not a great judge of such things...
Lindsey Rae, “Queen of ridiculously tedious” that is too funny! It does look very time consuming. Yep, I think just a potted pine cone would be cute also. My cats would dig in the dirt and knock it over though. :-) I would think that some type of artificial filler would work though and cover it with Spanish moss or some other type grassy material. Maybe some glitter spray on the pine cone for Christmas glow too! Ah, the ideas are endless...
ReplyDelete