Acorn Wreath

Sewing is a love to me. In fact, it may be addiction. But crafting is a new-found interest. Until we moved into a house two months ago, I had kept the crafts at a minimum. Our old 2-bedroom apartment felt like piles of projects were caving in on me. The last thing I needed was more decor. But now that I have bare walls that can breathe, I’m exploring all those wonderful craft projects I’ve admired from afar in the blogging world. And this one caught my eye.

I love the simplicity of it and monochromatic color. And better yet, it was made from acorns!….something the kids and I see everywhere at the park. So last week, with empty bread bags (from feeding the ducks) the kids and I loaded our bags as full as we could with brown acorns. I felt like one of my toddlers, gathering treasures, slightly giddy with craft excitement. And I loved that we were working on a project together.
Though my acorns are not as cool looking as hers, I hope you enjoy my acorn wreath adventure. Let’s get started!

Skill Level: Beginner
Needed:
* Acorns (or nuts or wooden beads)
* Floral wreath
* Hot Glue-gun

1. Gather acorns. If you can find the ones with the little hats on top, totally cool. I just had these to work with. But in the end I still liked the result. If you don’t have acorns in your area, you might try what the woman in the above link did. She posted on her blog, asking readers to send her some and four boxes showed up on her doorstep! What an amazing network this blogging place is.

2. Clean and BAKE your acorns. Oh my, this is an important step. At first we brought the acorns home and since they had been outside, I washed them and just laid them on a towel to dry. Then I read the post above in thorough detail. And when I got to the part about her dormant box of acorns festering with little maggots, I freaked out and threw my acorns in the oven for 15 min at 350 degrees to make sure any little creatures living within had croaked. (for more info read here).
3. Gather a wreath and glue gun. I purchased one of these very inexpensive straw wreaths (only because we were at the end of our budget for the month and I was trying to be a responsible wife). You can also use floral or wooden wreaths.
4. Start glue-ing! I chose to do mine in a diagonal wrap-around pattern. So first I drew one line with a marker around the wreath, put some hot glue on that line and laid the acorns on top.
5. Glue acorns all around the wreath (But don’t bother glueing them on the back. No one will see it and it will lay flatter on your wall or door. ) As you go around the wreath, it may be hard to keep each line curving with the same degree as the previous one. I continually adjusted here and there as I went.
6. Add a ribbon, admire your (tedious but exciting) work, and hang it up.
Total cost for the project:
Wreath: $2.50
Spray Paint: $1
Acorns: FREE!
This ribbon was made of braiding three strips of white gauze fabric together:
Of course, if you’re anything like me, it’s hard to decide which color you like best. So, I spray painted it white. And I love this version even better. Jordan Almonds anyone?
Next to the charcoal gray door, white adds perfect contrast. And it works for most seasons! When Thanksgiving is over, tie a red, green, or gold ribbon on there.
Or better yet, paint it green!
Raspberry pink for Valentine’s Day:
Kelly Green for St. Patrick’s Day:
And if you can’t find Acorns…..make it with dried Lima Beans. Cheap, easy to find at the store, and totally cool looking. Created by All Things Thrifty:
And Jenny from The Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts. I love her skinny wreath look. In fact, the color makes me think that Kidney Beans might work too?
A simple touch, but a huge way to say Welcome Home.

  1. Totally cool, and something my children and I can enjoy doing together!

  2. 2) Erica Groover

    Did you spray paint the acorns/beans before or after you glued them to the wreath? Would it also work gluing them to a foam wreath?
    Thanks!

    • 3) Dana

      I spray painted them afterward.
      A foam wreath should work too.

      • 4) tiamia

        What kind of spray paint did you use?…the wreaths seem to have a glossy finish. {BTW…your wreaths are awesome!}

  3. 5) tiamia

    Beautiful wreaths! Was wondering what kind of spray paint you used….the wreaths seem to have a glossy finish. Thank you. šŸ™‚

    • 6) Patricia

      I am teaching a class on acorn wreath making. Can you tell me approximately how many acorns you used to fill what size wreath? Thanks!

  4. 7) Brenda Cooi

    Fabulous idea. I live in Australia and we have gumnuts over here. I’ve been looking at them for years wondering what I could do with them craft wise. This is it!. Thanks for the great idea!. Very clever.

  5. 8) heather s

    adorable! We always have an abundance of acorns in the fall and I wanted to kick myself for not thinking about this cute craft! The kidney beans remind me too much of deer poop, but maybe change the color and see how it ends up! Thank you for your inspiration!

  6. 9) Kristin

    Hi,
    Any idea what kind of acorns the dark brown ones are? I’d love to make a wreath but we don’t have any acorns here. I’d have to order some…

    Thanks!
    Kristin

    • 10) Dana

      if you don’t have acorns, you can use beans or something like that from the store. Kidney beans are cool looking!

      • 11) Peggy Gooch

        I made one using lima beans. I like it. Really like the acorns, but past few years have had very few. I like to use them in various crafts. Thank you for sharing. Super job.

  7. 12) kate

    the natural colored one looks like beetles :/

  8. 13) Danae

    Neat idea, but just one question — What did you do about the little white worms that like to burrow inside these acorns?

  9. 14) Danae

    Oh, wait, never mind! should probably read every step fully.

  10. Hi! I also love making wreaths from natural elements. There is a tree at my work place that bears these type acorns. Making this! I love it in white šŸ˜‰
    Following some of your Pinterest boards.
    JoAnn
    sweetpepperrose.blogspot.com

  11. Totally love this wreath!!
    I made it last fall and was really wanting to use it again, but the only problem is that the acorns keep falling off…. :/ I hot glued them on (and spent several hours doing so!) and have re-hot glued several of them again, but alas. Any better ideas? I was thinking of maybe trying to pour a thin layer of polyurethane on top to secure them to the straw wreath, but I’m worried that might make it too heavy.
    Any advice is greatly appreciated! It’s such a beautiful wreath I would love to be able to show it off again!

    • 17) Barbara

      Hot glue loses it’s grip when exposed to outside temp. changes. E-6000 or something similar works better. You can used hot glue to hold in place than add E-600 for loner lasting results.
      I will mike this wreath.

  12. 18) Teddee Grace

    These don’t look like any acorns I’ve ever seen. They are so long and what happened to the caps?

  13. 19) Catherine

    Those are live oak acorns. The big golf ball sized acorns come from burr oak trees (in Texas – I don’t know about the rest of the world). Since the seed portion of the acorn is relatively skinny the cap falls off pretty easily and most of the time they are found cap-less on the ground around here.

  14. 21) Linda Smith

    I love your wreaths Dana. I made one with caps- and the live oaks without for another daughter. The fun was looking for the acorns with my grandson.
    The cost for supplies was slightly more than quoted- any suggestions on the best place to go would be appreciated. What did you finish the wreath with a polyurethane finish or what – loved your finishing look.
    Thanks Dana for a great step by step explanation.

  15. 22) Vickie B.

    This is really cute and we have several very old coast live oak trees on our property that are dropping a bounty of acorns right now. Somehow, I can’t shake this vision I have of a commando squadron of squirrels storming our porch to whisk away my artistic endeavors away to store high up in their nest for their winter food stores. We have some very bold squirrels living in our trees šŸ˜‰

  16. 23) Meghan

    I like how you included the cost of the project in this

  17. 24) durga

    Hi Dana

    Love the wreaths and that it is a project you worked on with kids. Even better that it is made from things found in nature. I would love to make one …but instead can I pay you to make one for us? I am looking for a wreath in a slightly warmer white color.
    Thank You

    • 25) Dana

      Sorry, I don’t sell handmade projects, just share ideas šŸ™‚

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