DIY Pinecone Ornaments

Today, I walked into my Aunt and Uncle's home to find my Aunt and her friend Karen making these awesome pinecone ornaments.  They are so rustic and Christmasy-looking and I am just so in love with them!  Plus, I am all about recycling and reusing things, so this project was right up my alley.

All you need is:

Pinecones

Ribbon/String or Twine

Glue

I wish that I would have gotten more pictures of the ornament-making process, but my fingers were very sticky and sappy!  You simply tie a loop knot and then a bow and glue it on and VOILA!  I have a mini-tree, so we went searching for some smaller pinecones in the backyard and we hit the jackpot.  Here are some photos of my tree:

  

Thanksgiving Care Package

I asked my husband: What is your one favorite thing that you eat at Thanksgiving?  Of course, he said, "pumpkin pie."  At first, I thought to myself, "How in the world am I going to send him that?"  Well, thanks to a couple of YouTube tutorials and my aunt-in-law, we successfully made him pumpkin pie in a jar!

 

We made a simple homemade pie crust and then smushed it down into each of the jars.  It took quite a lot of time and effort, but it was so worth it.  Well, at least, I hope it was.  He has not told me if the pumpkin pie was any good or not yet, but, when he does, I'll let y'all know!

Of course, I had to send him more than just pumpkin pie!  So, I gathered up a list of things and headed to the grocery store.  I decided to make him "Thanksgiving in a box" by giving him things that he may eat for Thanksgiving dinner.  The "turkey," stuffing, macaroni and mashed potatoes were the best that I could find.

 However, he was the most excited about the popcorn ball.  I guess I did something right!

"Welcome to Japan" Care Package

My husband was sent overseas in September.  I knew that he would arrive there and need some things, so I gathered up some of the things that he had left here (like his salt water taffy from our honeymoon trip).  I also found a blog with printables and used those to label candy with sweet sayings.  He absolutely loved those. In fact, he posted on Facebook that he had "the best wife ever."  I was on top of the world.

Being an inexperienced care-package-maker, I used wrapping paper on the flaps.  That was a pain.  However, Ryan told me that he took the flaps off and kept them in his rack.  THAT gave me butterflies.  This one is no where near the most decorative care package that I have made him, but he was so in love with it, so I was satisfied.

October Care Package

For October, I sent my hubby a festive Fall-themed care package labeled "I can't help FALLing in love with you."  (I am a huge fan of both Elvis and puns).

I simply went to a local grocery store and went to the "All Things Orange" section and picked out a bunch of odds and ends items that I could throw into this one.  My favorite were the chocolate eyeballs that I labeled: "I only have eyes for you."  (I told you; I'm pun-crazy).

If you send anything liquid, or really anything at all, I'd advise putting it in a Ziploc bag.  I sent my husband some amazing-smelling body wash that leaked a little (but not enough to damage anything).