My holiday decor is rather lacking of it’s normal grandeur this year. For one we have a toddler boy who has yet to grasp “no touch” or “only for looking” or “don’t throw” or “no, no, we don’t destroy things” or “that’s not for climbing.” Boys… (or at least our boy, he is especially rotten.)
Secondly, I had forgotten that all my garland from last year needed relit…which takes forever. I need to force myself to do it this year otherwise come holiday 2016 and I will be in the same boat upon opening the bin to my Christmas garland. (Insert bummer face.)
What I did manage to accomplish this year was a little DIY project that required almost zero effort. (Considering my parents collected the pine cones for me, I’d say I really got out easy with this one.) I have been wanting to add more of a natural aspect to our decor but I wanted something different. When I spied an image of bleached pine cones my “aha” button went off. They’re light. They’re fun. They’re different. Exactly what I was looking for.
Here’s the 411 on it:
Step 1 Collect as many pine cones as you would like to bleach. (And get someone else to do it for you like me!)
Step 2 Place pine cones in a large bucket or contain and fill with equal parts bleach and water. (I purchased bleach from a dollar store.) Place a plate on top with a heavy object to hold pine cones down in bleach mixture. Allow pine cones to soak for at least 24 hours.
Step 3 Carefully drain the bleach solution and lay pine cones out in a single layer to dry. They will be closed, and some still dark but after a couple of days they will open and lighten. Be sure to set in an area that is moisture free – a sunny closed in porch works well. The smell of bleach goes away significantly once they are dry….goes away completely a few days after that.
And that’s it! After they have dried they open up and look like this:
The color reminds me so much of coffee with cream. They go beautifully with natural things as well as sparkly silver and gold.
As far as decorating is concerned I have not done much with them other than fill a couple of hurricanes that I have sitting on my dining room table. They are gorgeous though! I would love to make garland for the living room as I think it would go beautifully with our real tree. If you end up bleaching some pine cones of your own please share by tagging #prettyplainjanes!
Happy Decorating! (To my fellow procrastinators!)
xo,
