I love these easy ways to give your house some Thanksgiving flair. And they don’t cost much. These projects can be made with nuts or acorns.
Buy nuts in their shells to surround candles in any holder. Any kind of glass container works for this. Nuts also look nice in a container with orange kumquats! You can keep this look into Christmas if you like–just add a few ornaments and or greenery. If you have oak trees nearby, you can use acorns for this look and they are free!
Speaking of acorns, I love them! You can do so much with them. Put them in a 200 degree oven for a while to kill any bugs in them. Then display them in a bowl or try some crafts. I hear that some people even sell acorns on ebay!
Glitter works on acorns too. Use glitter on the cap or bottom. Or turn the kids loose with their own ideas. Bright colors look great on the bottoms with caps left natural. It’s easier to paint the cap and/or bottom separately and then glue them back together.
Cover a styrofoam ball or old ornament with acorn caps that you’ve painted or glittered. Click here for the pictured acorn cap ornament tutorial at Sweet Something Design. She used silver glitter, but I think a mix of clear glitter and white glitter could look nice and frosty. This looks great hanging from a chandelier or nestled among pine cones and gourds. And it’s lovely on a Christmas tree after Thanksgiving.
It’s super simple to add acorns onto twine to make a rustic napkin holder. For a less rustic look, substitute ribbon for the twine. Wrap the twine around the napkin several times and then tie a bow with it. Hot glue the acorns onto the twine. I found this at Parties for Pennies and she used a gold leafing pen on the bottoms of the acorns. I love this look for Thanksgiving! If you don’t have acorns, how about hot gluing a nut in its shell onto the twine? You can always crack them open later to eat. If you use hazelnuts (also known as filberts) they even resemble acorns.
If you have a lot of acorns, make this basket! Just hot glue them on any which way for a beautiful basket. You can upcycle an old basket you have or that you find at a resale shop like GoodWill. Fill the basket with pine cones, gourds, whatever you like! You can spray with lacquer if you want a shine, but I kind of like the natural finish as shown here.
Do you have any acorn crafts to add? I love them. You can even make fake acorns from fabric if you like!
maggie says
Thank you, Arelis! I love turning these into beautiful items. Some of these can stay up all winter as part of your decor. Have fun!
Arelis Cintron says
How festive! I absolutely love that you could bring in the outdoors and decorate them for free. Most of the time I skip decorating because it can be costly picking up decorations at the store. I’ll have to see if there are any acorns in my neck of the woods to try this out!
maggie says
Thanks, Donna! You might like to try a few of these. I’ve seen the bottoms painted with fingernail polish that looked like jewels! Have fun!
Donna says
How beautiful! I’m about the most uncrafty person I know. But I guess I need to try more, and I do have tons of acorns in my backyard. 🙂
maggie says
Great idea to get the boys busy! They can have fun with these too–other than throwing them at each other. haha Thanks for putting a smile on my face today, Carol!
Carol B says
Oh you are so creative! I see acorns, and I think I need to clean my yard up. You see acorns and end up with some really cool, creative items to decorate your home with! Love it. And now I know what my boys are doing this afternoon – collecting acorns!
maggie says
My pleasure Cori! I hope you all have fun with these! I definitely am having a great weekend because our daughter just had her first baby. She’s so cute & we’re enjoying every minute with her! Have a super week, Cori!
maggie says
My pleasure Cori! I hope you all have fun with these! I definitely am having a great weekend because our daughter just had her first baby. She’s so cute & we’re enjoying every minute with her! Have a super week, Cori!