Week Of Frugal Fall Ideas: Cinnamon Pinecones

I know that cinnamon pinecones are more of a Christmassy winter thing for most people but I’m branching out a little on this one. I love the spicy scents of autumn. I can’t get enough of pumpkin spice and cinnamon. I recently saw a small bag of these pinecones for sale for $6. There are pinecones on the ground right now (where I live) so I decided to take advantage of them – for free!

I’ve never made these before but thought they shouldn’t be too difficult. I was right. I read instructions from several different sites, looking for a way to make them with supplies I already had on hand. Here’s what I came up with.

Spicy Cinnamon Pinecones

You’ll need:

• Pinecones
• White glue
• Old craft paintbrush (I used a tiny watercolor brush)
• Spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves

Here’s what you do:

1. Bake the pinecones first to kill anything that might be living in them. Most sites recommend 45 minutes in a 250F degree oven. I baked them on an old cookie sheet. Bonus: It made my kitchen smell woodsy, like pine. When finished, let them cool. It won’t take long. I set them on the porch outside and they cooled in about 10 minutes.
2. Brush the pinecones with the glue. I brushed glue over the tips but I don’t think it really matters where the glue is.
3. Put spice mixture in a gallon-size bag. This will be according to preference. I used 1-1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of cloves. Just mix it together and smell it. It’s just for scent, not taste
4. After you coat each pinecone in glue shake it in the spice bag then lightly tap off the excess spices. Let them set to dry.

There are a lot of things you can do with these. I have them in a vase as a centerpiece. You could give them as a gift. You could also store them on a shelf to fragrance a closet. One recommendation I’ve seen is to use cinnamon oil, but I didn’t have any. I may pick some up to add to these and prolong their fragrance. Right now they smell heavenly without it though.

~Update~ After I wrote this post I came across some cinnamon oil for $1.99 so I picked it up. I put a couple drops in each pinecone and it enhanced the scent even more!

Why I do what I do ~ Every time hubby and I hug or kiss in front of Chloe she asks, “Mom and Dad, you love each other?” We answer yes. Chloe spotted a photo of the 2 of us (the one of hubby and I in the collage in yesterday’s post) among some others and as she was naming them she came to that one and said matter-of-factly, “Mom and Dad they love each other” as if it was our combo name

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