Pinecones

If you want to use pinecones for decorations and crafts I'd recommend soaking them in a bleach solution first.

You don't want to use dirty, possibly buggy cones.
I usually soak mine overnight and the amount of bleach is up to you, obviously the more bleach you use the whiter your pine cones will turn out.

I leave mine to dry on my windowsill on kitchen paper, it can take a few days to dry them properly.

What you will notice is that they will close up when they are soaked but as they dry out they will open up beautifully. I am adding a couple of pictures to show the wet and also the dry ones.

Heart tree decorations

So I have made some Christmas tree decorations using sheet music.

They are quite easy to make and can be made with ordinary book pages although they seem to look pretty special when made with sheet music.

Take a piece of paper trimmed to eight inches by six inches, then cut six pieces, make two of them eight inches long, two of them six inches long and two of them four inches long.

Then lay one of each size on top of each other, biggest on the bottom.

Place one set down with the larger size facing up, cut a piece of twine or string a few inches long and form it into a loop. Lay it down on top of the pieces of paper you have put down.

Take the other set of papers and lay those down on top this time with the larger size down ( so that the two larger pieces are together.

You then need to pick them up carefully and staple them at the bottom so that the twine gets stapled to them as well.

Now when you pick them up you just need to roll each loose piece down to the bottom being careful not to crease them. When they are rolled down to the bottom staple them all together and you should have your heart.

Christmas Crafts

I am now preparing crafts for Christmas, yes I know it's still early and we've not had Halloween but you can't be too ready!

You can make your own icicles with nothing more than an old cola or lemonade bottle.

Cut the top off and also the bottom, they don't have to be done perfectly, a few uneven edges will only add to the charm.

Then cut thin strips off the bottle, going up rather than across.

When you have all of your strips ready light a candle.

Just hold each strip quite high up over the candle and as each section starts to heat up give it a twist, then move the strip along to twist the next bit.

They look pretty good.