If you are a regular you will have seen our Dream Tree Challenge reveal earlier today. For the second year running we accepted the challenge from Michaels, to decorate a tree using materials from their craft stores. Other than the tree and a few gold baubles, all of our tree decorations were handmade, and today I am sharing the first pattern in the series.
Our pinecone crafts have turned a few heads, and we are proud to say that our pinecone bird ornaments are one of our faves. She’s a fun little character and is super-simple to make using a painted pinecone, wooden ball and and a little felt. To make these pinecone bird ornaments you will need to first download the PDF below. Cut out the pattern and transfer it to the felt using a pencil or chalk. Cut out the wings and tail feather and then you are ready to paint the pinecone and wooden ball. Once they are dry, you can assemble the pinecone bird using a low temperature glue gun. We made a little beak by folding gold paper into a tiny triangle, and added tiny black eyes with a marker. If you want to hang your pinecone bird from the tree like we have, then simply attach a length of embroidery thread from the top of the pinecone. If you are looking for more pinecone crafts take a peek at our pinecone fox, owl and cheeky little squirrel!
Tools
Materials
- Lia Griffith’s Wool Blend Felt — Cotton
- 1″ Wooden Balls
- Gold Paper
- Black Marker
- White Paint or white spray paint
Pop back over the next few days to get the patterns and tutorials for all the other fab DIY tree decorations. Better still, follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and be the first to find out what we are sharing next! See you there! ~ Lia
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21 Comments
how do I print the directions? I have the pdf for the wing and tail. I would like to print the step by step directions to show 6 year olds how to put them together.
Since this is an in-post photo tutorial, click on the image while holding the command key. This will allow you to open the tutorial in a new window, and you can print that window. (This is for Mac. PC may vary)
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I can’t get the bird to stand up on its own. The weight of the wooden ball seems to cause the cone to just tip over. I think I’m already using a larger pine cone than you did. Any advice? Thanks!
I made these into ornaments because I had a hard time getting them all to stand up 🙂 A wood bead would work for the head as well (the hole makes it lighter weight), or moving it up slightly on the pinecone could help. You could also try gluing a penny or magnet to the tail feather to see if weighing down the backside helps!
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I did this type of craft 30 years ago in my kindergarten class. We used feathers from the craft store for the wings and tail. I still have mine…the feathers aren’t as ‘fluffy’ but it is my favourite ornament on my tree. I will now do this craft with my daughter. I think I’ll do a combination of this design and my ‘old school’ design. I would add glitter in strategic places so that the birds twinkle. I love your website…I’m asking for a Cricut Explore Air for Christmas so that I can do more of your designs. I love looking at your website…this is the first time I have posted.
Thank you so much for your sweet words Christine!! That is so charming to have had that homemade ornament for 30 years, WOW that is admirable. I love that you are adapting our design to match the one that you made as a little girl 🙂 Glitter is a great addition. I hope you have a wonderful time crafting with your daughter!! -Lia
PS. The Cricut is a great Christmas gift 😉
What colors of felt did you use for the fox, squirrel and owls? Would the quantities in the precut sets be sufficient to make several ornaments?
My girls and I will be using these for our tree this year! Can’t wait!
Your tree will look so cute with these ornaments! We loved decorating our tree with them 🙂 We honestly used several different colors when we were making the foxes, owls, and squirrels because we loved having the variations in shades of orange and brown and gray. That is part of the fun! You won’t need too much felt to make them so the precut sets should work just fine. Good luck and happy crafting!!
-Lia
Hello I am trying to download and print the Pinecone Bird Ornament but it doesn’t let me do it.
Sorry for the trouble, we had an error in the file but it has been updated and should work now.
I should clarify. It states ‘Hmm, we cant find this page’ THX
Sorry, we had a problem with the file but have fixed it so you should be able to download it without any problem. Thanks for your patience.
All these little animals are so cute! Where do you get the pine cones? I’m reluctant to use those found on the ground as they may have critters in them. Thanks!
You can find them in most craft supply stores like Michaels or JoAnn’s. I think they even carry them on Amazon.
I can’t download the pdf pattern! Can you fix it please?
So sorry Judi. We did fix it that day. Hope you were able to download.