Acorn Wreaths

There is a crisp chill in the air these days and the trees are just starting to get some hints of color to their leaves. We are fortunate enough to live in a very pretty area, that has many beautiful places to hike and enjoy the outdoors. High Point State Park is not too far away, and my husband and I decided to have a picnic lunch there recently. High Point sits at the peak of the Kitattinny mountains and is the highest elevation in the state at 1,803 feet. From one point in the park you actually have an incredible view of three states...New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. We thoroughly enjoyed our day in the park, soaking up the glorious weather and spectacular views. We have some tall and beautiful trees in our neighborhood, but the trees and atmosphere at High Point are just amazing. Spending a day at the park  made me want to go home and work on some more nature inspired craft projects.

As I explained in this post, I dried a bunch of acorns that I collected from our yard. Since I still had quite a stash available, I decided to continue using them in my seasonal crafts. In addition to my acorns,  for these projects I used some wired burlap ribbon,  stick wreath forms, some thin wire and LOTS of hot glue.

  I simply glued the acorns to the wreath forms. Initially I thought about using straw wreaths, but in the end I decided on these forms as the brown color would blend in more with the nuts. It wasn't hard, but turned out to be a much more time consuming process than I had anticipated. When the first wreath was done however, I was pleased with how it turned out.

This wreath made a beautiful candle ring for a battery operated candle that I had.

Since I liked how this turned out, and I still had a few more wreath forms as well as some bowls of acorns, I decided to make a few more wreaths. When I had three, I decided to make a door hanging using some wired burlap ribbon as the vertical banner. I cut the burlap ribbon into 4 strips. The first strip was 48 inches long and would serve as the banner that the wreaths would be attached to. The other 3 strips were cut into 30 inch, 24 inch and 6 inch lengths and would be used to make a bow.

 I took each end of the 30 inch strip and folded them in towards the center

I then secured the ends in place by twisting a small piece of thin floral wire around the burlap. I repeated the process with the 24 inch piece of ribbon and then secured the two pieces together with another piece of floral wire to form a layered bow.

I folded the remaining short piece of ribbon in half lengthwise, and wrapped it around the center of the bow to cover the floral wire. I trimmed the excess and hot glued it into place.

 I then tied a loop at one end of the 48 inch length of ribbon and  hot glued the bow below the loop. 

The last step was to secure the wreaths to the long burlap ribbon. I must admit that at this point, I started to doubt that this project was going to turn out as I had envisioned. The acorn wreaths were heavier than I had anticipated and I was not sure of the best way to attach them to the banner. I considered trying to tie them on using the thin wire, but the burlap ribbon that I was using had a very loose weave and I thought it might tear if I used that method. In the end, I decided to use more hot glue (LOTS of hot glue) at the top and bottom of each wreath. Even as I was applying the glue, I wasn't sure the ribbon was going to be able to support the weight of the 3 wreaths, but I had come this far and decided to plow ahead. I literally held my breath as I picked up the banner when the glue had dried, and guess what?...It worked! The wreaths didn't fall off and the ribbon didn't tear or get any runs in the burlap weave. The next step was to see how it looked hanging up.

 I liked how the project turned out, but I didn't love how it looked on the front door, as I thought it looked too "busy" with our other fall decorations.  So in the end, I took the banner down and hung up the burlap wreath that I had made last year and described in this post.

I decided to hang the wreaths on the inside of the door and I liked how it looked there better. Another way of bringing the natural beauty from this time of year indoors.

 I think I will make another wreath next year (when I replenish my supply of acorns), but will use a larger wreath form, rather than 3 small ones.

I hope you're taking the time to get out and enjoy the beauty of all that this season has to offer where you live.

Linking with these great parties:
Katherine's Corner Autumn Wreath Roundup Linky Party
Saving 4 Six Think Tank Thursday
The 36th Avenue
Pieced Pastimes
The Crafted Sparrow
Between Naps on the Porch
A Delightsome Life