Pinecone Christmas Trees

This might be the easiest project ever. It would be great to do with kids, too. Take them on a pinecone hunt to find the supplies!

What you'll need:

- Pinecones (flat bottomed pinecones work best for this project since they will need to stand up on their own)

- Cardboard (boxboard from a cereal box works great for this)

- Marker (I used a metallic marker)

- Glue (Elmer's works fine)

How to:

1. Draw a star on the non-printed side of your cardboard. Fold the cardboard in half and cut out the star so that you cut two identical stars at once. Glue the printed sides of the cardboard together and let dry.

2. Color both sides of the star with the marker, making sure to color the edges too. 

3. Place star on top of pinecone, glue it on or just let it sit free. 

I added fake cranberries to one of my "trees," so things like sequins, glitter, gemstones, etc. would make fun personalized touches! 

Homemade Composter

The hubs came up with this project idea while we were planning our garden for this summer. While our compost won't be ready to use this season, it will be a nutritious delight for our veggies next summer! This is an easy homemade composter made from some 2x4, a 5 gallon bucket with lid, L brackets, rollerblade wheels, and two thin poles. He constructed a rectangular base out of the 2x4s and drilled a few drainage holes in the bucket. Then he screwed L brackets into the inside of the bucket in 3 rows on diagonals. He put wheels on the poles with nuts to hold them in place and set them on top of the base. The bucket is placed on it's side and sealed with the lid. We give it a spin to stir it up every few days. There are a TON of resources for composting available through your local county extension. You need to have the right mix of green and brown materials for your compost to not smell terrible and be nutrient rich. Composting is a great way to keep some food waste out of the landfill and to boost your garden soil for free!

Rustic Coasters

As anyone who has gotten married knows, after the wedding is over, you're left with a dozen or so centerpieces. I have 30 slices of a tree trunk, vases, drop in candle holders, and about a billion pine cones. There's a website you can sell them on now, but if you're lazy like me, that doesn't sound very appealing. Instead, I decided to repurpose some of my decorations into useful things instead of filling up my parents' basement with boxes of things to store. My first project: natural coasters out of the wood slices. My hubs' grandpa cut up a log for us into slices before the wedding, about an inch and a half thick. Then we polyurethaned the top and bottom to keep them from cracking, but left the bark natural. We probably could have stopped at this step and used them as is, but the slices slid on our end tables and knowing my luck, would result in a dark colored beverage spilled all over my light colored carpet.  Luckily, I had some extra grippie kitchen cabinet and drawer liner so we cut circles in the liner and used tacky glue to affix it to the bottom of the wood slices. I let them dry over night and wa-la! Pretty much free, recycled coasters!

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Perfect coffee holder!