Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Halloween Acorns

Halloween Acorns


Last week I was at my Grandma's house, in the back yard, walking around and picking up acorns off the ground that had fallen from her oak tree. I have always loved acorns, and I usually pick up a couple nice ones each fall, stick them up in a box full of naturey things that I'm never quite sure what to do with, and there they sit. Well, this year I was struck with a idea as I picked up these acorns, and so was born the Halloween acorn project! It's a pretty simple project with mostly basic craft supplies: acorns, a few bottles of acrylic paint, paintbrush, and some patience for painting tiny things :)

You'll Need:
  • A bottle of black acrylic paint, and a bottle of orange acrylic paint.
  • A small paint brush
  • Cup for water (I use old yogurt cups)
  • Acorns, how ever many you want to use & any size will work.
  • Acrylic clear coat spray, you can use either shiny or matte, I used matte.
  1. First step is to clean the acorns, I made the mistake of starting to paint a couple and realizing that the fine dirt on them was keeping the paint from sticking.
  2. Squeeze your paint out on a old plate or I usually use an old plastic lid from a butter tub or something similar. Get a cup of water, and start painting!After the first coat of Orange
3.Let the acorns dry completely overnight, then give them another coat of paint. After two coats of paint

4. Let the acorns dry completely again, and then outside in a garage, deck, some other well ventilated space, lay down newspaper and spray one coat of either shiny or matte clear coat on the acorns. I used matte this time, but think I will try shiny next time!

5. After the acorns are dry, you can throw them in a vase, a bowl, or where ever suits you! I got a little fancy with some of my orange acorns and using a black fine tip paint pen I drew tiny little jack-o-lantern faces on.Finished product!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just happened to stumble across your blog today! And can't wait to sit down and devour it whole!! I really like the idea of the painted acorns, as it is right in my price range!!

Gretchen said...

Thanks! I am glad you are enjoying my blog! :D Most of my projects are very low cost, because I too am a DIYer on a budget.