I wanted to share a fun winter craft with you today: simple, sweet pine needle impression clay ornaments!
I know these are not a new idea, but I’ve been meaning to make some for a while, and I am excited with how they turned out. They are a lovely activity for kids to make, or perhaps a gathering of friends on a wine or tea night!
And if you live in an apartment where you can’t have a live Christmas tree, or perhaps another reason prevents you, you can forage for pine branches at a local park to take home and make this craft and then apply some drops of pine essential oil to the backs to bring fresh pine scent to your home. (Orange, clove, and cinnamon essential oils would also be fitting and traditional midwinter scents to add!) It’s an accessible way to bring the goodness of pine indoors!
To make the ornaments, roll air-dry clay into 1-inch balls and then press flat into discs with a book or container lid. Or, if you’re fancier than me, you can roll out the clay and use cookie cutters for neater and more uniform ornaments. (Mine are “rustic,” ha!) Then press sprigs of pine needles into the clay to form an impression and poke a hole for ribbon or string. Make sure the ornaments aren’t stuck onto your work surface (waxed paper might help here). Leave them to dry overnight, then the next day paint with watercolor to emphasize the look of the pine sprigs. I used watercolor brush pens and water with a small paintbrush to thin and spread out the paint pigment.
Once dry, string ribbon or twine through so they can be hung on a tree, drawer knobs, stocking hooks, or even used as gift tags. They can also be used as drawer or car fresheners!
These simple little ornaments aren’t fancy, but they are cheery and fun to make, give you a chance to do some fun winter foraging with kids or friends, and bring a bit of natural pine into your holiday decorating.
*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you choose to buy something from a link that I share, I will make a small percentage of the sale *at no extra cost to you*.
The Herbology Faerie 