DIY - Last Minute Ideas

Here is a simple creation I made while waiting on the cooling process of another project I was doing.

It's quick, simple and easy to make.  Well the first one was anyway.  I think I gave a bit more thought to the second one as I was busy trying to recreate that "thrown together" look I so easily created with the first one.  Haha (that was actually thrown together.)

Here's how this little gem came into creation.  While I was waiting on a batch of candles to cool I decided to clean up my work area.  Which just happened to be, that day, the kitchen counter for the most part.  It was pretty well spread all over the kitchen, but seemed to hover right around the sink area.  So in the midst of me cleaning the counters and putting my miscellaneous items away i knocked 3 of the 4 smaller pine cones I had set on the counter (haha out of my way) into the kitchen sink.  Just managing to save them from the garbage disposal I decided that I should probably find a better place to keep these until I was ready to do this project.

Which at this point, I will say that that project never came to pass because this one was just so irresistibly quaint and easy to make.  I'll save that other project for another time.  As I don't want to use up all my craftiness at one time.  I have to ration myself to 3 or 4 at a time.  I just get too excited over them, then end up creating another project while I'm waiting on the first one. :P

So now I have these small pine cones in my hand and a quart mason jar on the counter next to me.  I just plunked them in the jar to free up my hands and to make some well deserved room on the counter.  As I stand at the ready to do the next step with the candles I find myself staring at the pine cones in the mason jar.  I have a small container of bells (jingle bells) next to it.  With multiple colors to choose from, my mind was going into overload with the possibilities of these pine cones in a jar.

I quickly took the pine cones out of the jar and alternated pine cones and jingle bells until the jar was full.  Then put the mason lid in place.  It sat there in the ready for the next day or two.  Then inspiration hit me on how to wrap it up and make it a completed project.

I had purchased some flannel pj's for my husband a couple years ago and the bow was a cotton ribbon and had Winchester printed on it repeatedly.  This was just the thing I needed to wrap around the lid and make it a nice quaint centerpiece. 

So I whipped out the hot glue gun and took to task adding the Winchester border around the jar lid and called it good.  I took pictures of the first one, but it looked so lonely there by itself.  So I took to task making a second one to match.

Here's where the problem started.  I wanted it to look just as perfectly unique as the other one.  Trying to recreate "thrown together" isn't as easy as it looks, but eventually I came to terms with ........... It's ok if it doesn't match and finally ended on a good note knowing that two unique things aren't exactly the same.

So in the end I had a quaint 2 pc. centerpiece.  Simple, quick and easy.  Add a splash of re-purposing and DIY ingenuity and ya got another great gift idea.

Here's the finished project.

I had this cotton ribbon tied to it over night.  When I got up the next morning to make coffee it occurred to me that a bow was too much.  That's when I cut it to fit, lapped it over and whipped out the hot glue.

I did flip the lid of the mason jar over to the shiny side up, which added in making a more finished look.

Total cost of this was $2.99 for the jingle bells from Walmart (50% off sale!).

If I had to do another one, I might spice up the pine cones a bit by adding some sprinkle glitter to them or some spray enamel to make them shinier.  But overall it gave me the "rustic re-purposed" look I so desire.

At this point, I'm pretty content with my last minute idea.  As I'm changing the world one re-purposed mason jar at a time. :P