Pecans Trains and Acorns
I have a huge update to the Pecans Trains and Acorns post!
The update is we’ve moved from the mountains of Arizona to the rolling hills of Oklahoma. The update is we now have huge acorns…all over our yard. Nice big acorns! So, I’ve added a few more acorns from our two oak trees.
I have quickly learned acorns hurt your feet when you walk barefoot!
So, when you get to the bottom of the post, we will see my large acorns. Most found while walking barefoot!
Making acorns
When is pecan season?
I had an amazing idea and I needed pecans!
Not to eat…
although that sounds good too,
but to decorate the cabin for autumn.
My amazing idea started with…
wimpy acorns.
Here in the mountains of Arizona, we have scrub oak bushes. I think that it’s really a tree. They just don’t grow big, strong and tall like Katharine Hepburn!
What do you get from wimpy scrub oak bushes??
Wimpy acorns!
I want large acorns. Then I started thinking about making acorns from….??
Pecans!
With a little cap, a pecan would look “acorny”!
No pecans in any stores around here yet.
Now I have a craving for pecans. Dreaming of pecans!
Which brings me to trains.
My grandparents had loads of pecan trees on their farm. I remember first learning to say “trick of treat” with my cousin and picking up pecans. We drove everyone crazy calling out “trick or treat” EVERY time we picked up a pecan.
When I think of pecans, I think of the story of my mom and my uncle dreaming of a Lionel train set as youngsters. With very little money available, they picked pecans to sell and earned enough for the trains set of their dreams!
Farm living was tough and my grandparents made their living with their hands on the farm. This time was especially challenging and mom and my uncle gave my grandparents the money from selling the pecans to help out.
They simply went out and picked more.
I played with that same train set in my youth.
Finding junk
Anyway, *wiping my tear away* on to find something “pecanish” to make something “acorny.”
Potpourri!
Isn’t it amazing the stuff in potpourri!
The flowers, the bundles of sticks, the grape looking stuff, the little-woven things…
and the pecan shaped things!!!
So I’m off and running to make acorny things from pecanish things.
First I hot glued flat sided beading {this you can find in sewing or larger craft stores} around the tops of the “pecans”. Then I covered the bottoms with painters tape and spray painted the “caps” with that rubber stop leak stuff.
It only comes in black, white and clear. But I hope after the companies start reading my posts about how I’m using it in home decor, they will not only pay me to write posts but make more colors!!!
I made a few with a cotton ball that I formed into a knit cap shape and hot glued on top. Easy!
Then I used a dried flower from the potpourri, put hot glue in the middle of the flower and pushed a “pecan” into the middle.
One flower I did the same but sprayed it with that black rubber spray first so it has a black cap.
Rubber spray paint companies…
are you listening??
While I was working at my favorite spot inside the cabin…
the kitchen counter…
I noticed this little iron bell. It was in my rustic junk box.
That’s a cap!
A circle of burlap also makes a cap, as well as wrapping twine around their little heads.
The finished acorns
Here’s my collection of “pecanish acorny things.
Using Oklahoma Acorns
We now have two large oak trees that produce large acorns! Enough for my decorating needs and for the squirrels too!
Acorns are great for trying out a painting idea. Notice I covered one with twine, and one with mod podge and a book page.
You can see the video on Pinterest here.
That’s my story of Pecans Trains and Acorns!
I now have a huge oak tree to set up a train set under and eat pecans.
What a great autumn day! 🙂
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This post is so funny! Your “Pecanish acorny things” are too cute! We have the same kind of wimpy acorns here in south Florida too. Love your ideas!