Monday, September 19, 2011

Ideas for Acorns



So yesterday Jan left a comment on my felted wool ball tutorial asking if I'd post how to make felted acorns. I didn't have any acorns so this morning Lucy and I went to the park to find some.

While I collected them Lucy sniffed around, and pulled on her leash whenever she saw something interesting, like oh say a squirrel- also collecting acorns (which I think resulted in me dropping more than I ended up taking home).

Nevertheless I collected a nice little pile.


It had been a long time since I'd collected acorns and on the drive home I started remembering how much fun I had crafting with them when I was a kid. That got me thinking about what else I do with them besides felting.

But first, I'll show you how to make the felted ones with the little wool balls I showed you how to make last week.


You only need acorn caps for this project. Add a little glue around the edge of the cap and attach it to a wool ball.



Pretty simple but boy do they look cute. Especially when you get a lot of them piled into a jar or bowl!


I also painted some of the acorns teal using craft paint. Once the paint was dry I sealed them with an acrylic matt finish. Bright green and teal are two of my favorite colors...


but they don't really say autumn.

I wanted something that would feel more autumnal but still match the teal, cream and brown in the living room. I have a lot of silver accents in there too, so I thought silver acorns might be nice. This time I used a sharpie paint marker, which I have to tell you was much quicker than using craft paint and a brush.

The last idea I had was to try decoupaging them. I had a tiny little oak leaf punch that I thought would be perfect! The acorns I collected were a mottled greenish brown so the first step was to paint them a deep chestnut color. Once the brown was dry I painted them with a basecoat of Mod Podge and let that dry. Then I podged the little leaves (which were punched out of a metallic copper paper) all the way around each acorn.


Finally I added another coat of Mod Podge to seal.


As much as I love bright colors I think these ones turned out to be my favorites.

48 comments:

  1. Love the metallic leaves!! Are all of those the balls ones you felted in the container?

    Molly

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  2. Hi Molly,

    Thanks for the comment. Yes the felted acorns are the little wool balls I felted in the container

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  3. Cute as always! I like the felted ones, too! I have made acorn frames - love the look. It's from Martha stewart. You glue the caps on a stained wooden frame - so pretty!

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  4. Thanks Jane. Those frames sound gorgeous! And like something that you could keep around for more than fall- it would have a nice woodsy feel.

    I'd love to make some, but I probably could only make them if I intended to give them away as gifts. Otherwise the cats would eat them! They chew on everything.

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  5. OK you genius person! These are beautiful! I never thought I would see the day that I would be thinking of making acorns! YOU are a crafty temptress!

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  6. Oooo you should play with acorns! It seriously brought me back- I had totally forgotten how much fun they could be.

    I can so see you doing some like your gorgeous gourds or hmmm zentangle versions!

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  7. Hahahahaah! All I need is another project right now!

    BUT my sweetie just informed me he knows exactly where to go to collect acorns. I am doomed.

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  8. I'm loving the decoupage leaf acorns! Beautiful! I've done a little experimenting with acorns too, but the tops always fall off. Did you glue the tops on first, or does the modge podge alone keep them on?

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  9. Thanks Elise- and that's a really good question! Some of the tops fell off while I was cleaning them and those I glued back on. But it's been a long time since I've played with acorns, and I hadn't considered that with time more of the tops might fall off.

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  10. These are adorable! I made some felted acorns this week too! I've been wondering what else to make with my acorns because I have about a million in my yard!!

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  11. Thanks Tonia! I wish I had some in my yard because now my head is swimming with acorn ideas...

    Zentangled

    Painted white then colored with sharpies

    oh and little jack-o-lanterns, I posted them in a roundup last year on my Halloween blog:

    http://www.megaspooky.com/2010/10/pumpkin-roundup-aka-my-pumpkin.html

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  12. I love these, saw you at someday crafts. I shared my acorn jewelry this week made with real acorns. I would love for you to share this at my linky that runs fri-mon.

    http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/
    come srut your stuff

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  13. You are a genius! What adorable acorns.
    I would love for you to post this on my Fall In Love linky party today.

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  14. These look fabulous! Very festive and resourceful. :)
    I'm glad I found your blog and look forward to following your creative posts and projects.

    P.S. I think my readers will enjoy this project so I posted it on my blog at:

    http://adesiretoinspire.blogspot.com/

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  15. oh my goodness, these are the cutest! my faves are the felted ones! great job.

    i would love for you to come link up this or any other amazing project at my creativity party going on right now!

    letbirdzfly.blogspot.com

    thanks so much for sharing!

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  16. Adorable!! I saw these floating around on Pinterest this week :) Very cute!

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  17. Thanks everybody for visiting and leaving comments! I love reading them.

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  18. Love it! I have been collecting acorns to use for fall decorating love the metallic leaves!!1

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  19. Your acorns are lovely, I think I'm going to try to incorporate some of them into my Thanksgiving table arrangement. They really would add a touch of whimsy.

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  20. I can't tell you how much I love these! We don't have nice big acorns around here. If we have any at all, they are teeny.

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  21. LOVE THEM! Very cute idea...thanks so much for the share! Going on a nut hunt now! LOL Pop Art Minis

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  22. Thanks for all the comments! If anyone makes some acorns I'd love to see pictures.

    Debbie- I also was only finding small acorns at first. I was beginning to think that maybe I was remembering acorns being bigger than they were because the last time I collected them I was small but after a little while i found two big trees in the park with huge acorns all over the ground below. I don't know if it's the size of the tree or the type of oak tree but they were much bigger than the others!

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  23. very cute! Can I ask where you buy your felt roving? I can't find it anywhere!

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  24. Hi Kelly, I get all my roving from New England Felting Supply. They are pretty local to me but they have a website- http://feltingsupply.com

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  25. Adorable! I agree that the mod podged acorns are the best!

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  26. I'd be hard pressed to say which style is my favorite. I love the colors of the felted acorns, but the decoupaged ones are beautiful too!

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  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  28. Your decoupaged acorns are just beautiful ! I live just across a small wood and I am off to gather acorns !!!! Thanks for the clever idea !

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  29. I'm new to this, how do you do the punched leaves?

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  30. Thanks Marie-Anne! I'd love to see pictures of how yours turn out.

    Julie- I used a small paper punch to make the leaves.

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  31. Hi-Just wanted to let you know I featured you as one of my favorites of the week!!

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  32. hi- I just came across your blog when I followed a pin of your painted acorns on Pinterest...Anyway, I noticed that your felted balls start off round and then some of the ones with acorn tops are a little pointed on the bottom. Once it's felted, is the wool easy to sort of 'mush' (for lack of a better word) into that shape?
    Thanks! Christina

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  33. Hi Christina,

    Thanks for following the pinterest link and visiting my blog. The sort of pointy end really just comes from mushing the little wool ball into the acorn cap. I didn't try to reshape the wool at all. Happily, they just end up looking that way!

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  34. Thanks- I'll let you know how mine come out :-) I've only felted wool that I've knitted before, but this way looks nice and easy- so off to the park tomorrow we go to look for acorns!

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