Come see how to make paper pine cones for cards that are so realistic no one will believe they aren’t from the woods!
Today I wanted to share my tips for how to make paper pine cones for cards. These are the baby versions of full size pinecones so they are perfect for popping into winter foliage arrangements. And when you see how relatively easy they are to make compared to how much impact they offer, you will want to make a whole bunch and have them handy for your winter cards.
The pine cones themselves are made with Rubbernecker’s Stackable Flowers and Leaves #3 die set and I added detail foliage with their Holly #1 and Greenery #3 dies. I added a frame made with their Nested Rectangle with Square Holes and set the whole thing against a beautiful design from their Country Christmas 6×6 Paper Pad.
Let me take you through the making of the whole project.
Card Base and Frame
- Use white cardstock to cut an A2 sized card base and Nested Rectangle with Square Holes frame.
- Cut a 5.50″ x 4.25″ layer of designer paper from the Country Christmas 6×6 Paper Pad.
- Apply double stick tape to the back of the layer and attach it to the card base.
- Apply thin strips of mounting tape t the back of the frame and attach it to the card base.
How To Make The Paper Pine Cones
I was inspired to add pine cones to my project by the pine cones on the designer paper. You have to look close to see them but they are there. And these baby paper pine cones look so similar – everyone will think you are a genius to match them!
- Cut a couple sets of the Stackable Flowers and Leaves #3 using Kraft Cardstock.
- Apply touches of Pecan Ink to the petals on both sides using a mini-applicator for some variegation in shading, just like with real pine cones.
- Place the flower sections face up on the molding pad and push down on each petal to curl them up.
- Note: I used my Gina K glue holder because it was close at hand but I could have used Susan Tierney Cockburn’s mold tray.
- Attach double pieces of mounting tape in the bottom of one flower section, tuck a second flower layer inside to begin creating the pinecone.
- Continue the steps above to create as many layers as you want. Pro Tip: Adding mounting tape between each layer pushes them up to create the pinecone appearance.
- Apply a generous amount of glossy accents to the bottom of the pinecones and attach them to the card base.
Die Cut Holly and Greenery Branches
- Use green cardstock to cut Holly #1 sections and Greenery #1 sections and white cardstock to cut the Greenery #3 sections.
- Arrange and tuck the holly sections in behind the pinecones and attach using glossy accents.
- Fill in the arrangement by adding the green and white greenery branches.
- Finish by attaching white berries to the holly sections using glossy accents. Note: I didn’t want to use red for the berries because I wanted to keep the color scheme to green, white and brown.
Don’t those look like you were foraging in the woods and picked up a couple of pieces to add to your card? And wasn’t it easy?
Here are the Rubbernecker items I used to make this card:
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And here are all the other things from my stash that I used today.
So! Now that you know how to make paper pine cones for cards and see that it’s pretty easy to do, are you starting to picture all the ways you can use these on your winter cards? These are the little touches that take a beautiful project to something truly WOW worthy and I am so glad I am able to share it with you!