Rustic DIY Christmas Decor- a Pinecone Star

With Christmas slowly coming our way, it’s time for some DIY Christmas decor. In this post, I’ll show you how to make cute rustic star decor using reclaimed/pallet wood and pinecones. It’s very simple and can be hung on the wall as well as placed on the mantel or any other place around the house. 

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How to make a quick DIY Christmas decor-scrap wood and pinecones star

This quick DIY Christmas decor project uses reclaimed wood and pinecones. The original idea was to stain the wood with the aging stain and paint the pinecones white. But the mixture batch I used ended more brow than gray, so I decided to paint it white and leave the pinecones as they are or spray them lightly with artificial snow.

Bleach the pinecones

You can skip this step if you are short on time, but I recommend doing it as the pinecones turn beautiful light color. The process is pretty straightforward. I used foraged pinecones that I dried in the oven for several hours to make them open and get rid of any moisture they may have had.

1. Put the pinecones into a bucket/bowl with water and bleach.
2. Soak for 24h. Make sure they’re submerged in the bleach water solution
3. Remove them from the bucket. Let them dry and open. I needed to dry them again in the oven. If you live in a sunny place, just leave them in the sun. The blech odor will evaporate, and they will open.

Make a wooden canvas

You can use pallet planks that can be glued together, or you can bind them together using a couple of wood or metal flat brackets. I used old cladding boards mainly because they’re thin and light, and I could easily hang this project on the wall without risking it falling down(I have plasterboard walls ) 

1. Glue the boards together and let them dry.

I cut the boards in half so I’d get 20×20” wood canvas after gluing them together. I glued them and let them dry.

2. Stain 

I stained the wood using a steel wool/vinegar mixture. This batch, however, turned out more brown even when mixed with the black tea essence. To make the staining/aging mixture, you need steel wool, spirit vinegar, and then strong tea. Check this article on how to distress wood for more details on this method.

3. Sand

I sanded the wood, hoping it would turn more gray/silver color. I even restrained it again but to no avail. So decided to reverse the colors and paint the boards white. I used chalk paint and a dry brushing technique to achieve a distressed look.

The stain has bled through the paint a little, but I didn’t mind. Then I used a sanding sponge to sand it. I over-sanded in places I wanted the stain to come through.

4. Seal

Before gluing the pinecones, I sealed the paint with a coat of clear wax. You can also use water-based flat/satin poly.

Prepare the pinecones

Since I decided to leave the pinecones as they were(bleached). You can spray them a bit with the color you like or, as I did, with a fake snow spray.

1. Draw an outline of the design you want
   Doing so will make it easier to arrange the pinecones.

2. Glue the pinecones with a hot glue gun

Finally, after all of this is ready, arrange to glue the pinecones to the board. I started with the pinecones on the outlines first, and then I glued the ones inside the design.

You can attach some d ring hangers and hang it on the wire or simply place it on your mantel or any other place you like. 

I hope you liked this tutorial on a quick DIY Christmas decor. If you have any questions, leave a comment in the box below, and I’ll be happy to help as much as I can. Thanks for stopping by!

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