Other than Sewing...

Many people who sew are also talented in some form of needle work.  Sadly, I do not crochet or knit like my Mom.  Every once in a while I will dabble in some sort of craft but I'm not terribly creative.  I have always been interested in crafting with nuts, pine cones, shells etc. 

We have many hickory nut trees on our property.  This year we had a high volume of hickory nuts.  I normally wash both the nuts and the shells in Pine Sol and allow them to dry a couple of days.  This will kill off any possible bugs or worms.

I start out by purchasing a slab of alder wood with the natural bark around the perimeter.   They generally run 15- $20.   I have found them at Marshalls and Home Goods.  Next I get a styrofoam cone from the craft store.   I use a hot glue gun to temporarily hold the nuts in place.  I also use the shells to cover the open spots between the nuts.  Hot glue is not particularly strong but it will hold the nuts quickly.  After that I use good old Elmers Glue.   It dries pretty clear and will hold forever.

I either use Minwax stain with a brush or the aerosol type.  Sprays definitely are easier.  Allow to dry at least 24 hours.  Then you can apply several coats of  semi-gloss polyurethane.  I tend to use at least 3 coats.

I normally add the synthetic berries for a pop of color and to fill in gaps.  Then another coat of poly.

To attach the finished nut tree to the alder wood base I use a very thin layer of Gorilla glue.  This glue expands so it must be a very thin coat. 

I added some Folk Art acrylic snow paint to cover any exposed areas of glue.   Since I also glued down the night light snow man I added more snow paint.

Well, other than my trees I really can't call myself a crafter.  This one is for my Mom.