Sandy Supposes....

Recrafting Nature

I remember that in school we did arts and crafts with Fall objects, like conkers and acorns . Have you ever been all artsy and crafty with nature? What did you make? And if not, think up something you could make with natural Fall objects.

         

         

         Well, when I lived in my family's first home as a youngster, I soon learned to avoid the "conkers", or chestnuts. You never forget the painful experience of stepping on a chestnut still trapped in its green, spiked shell. Oh, there was blood-letting and the application of bandages.

         There were two towering chestnut trees in the front yard, and they became a bounty to the neighbourhood kids. Everyone wanted a chestnut, or conker collection. Some kids opted to string the nuts together, piercing them with nails and threading thin rope through them. I never created a craft from them.

         Now I have fashioned artsy stuff from pine cones. They are so plentiful here in Ontario. In my Guiding days, the cones were scooped up during an autumn hike. Back at our meeting hall, the cones were stuffed with peanut butter, rolled in loose bird seed, and given a yarn loop. The new bird treats were taken home, or presented as gifts. They were hung from various tree branches, and they provided sustenance for our feathered friends.

         A few times, I created Christmas elves from pine cones. All I needed was a few wooden beads that I painted with markers to draw facial features. These were glued to the head of the cones. Wardrobe pieces such as vests, toques, boots, and mitts were cut from scraps of coloured felt. Arms and legs were formed from pipe cleaners with the mitts and boots suitably attached. Many of these merry fellows became Christmas tree ornaments.

          At Guides, we also converted our cones into an assortment of angels. Wings were created from feathers, pipe cleaners, paper, miniature doilies, aluminum foil, ribbons, or whatever. Again, the heads were small wooden beads. Oftentimes, they were left bald, but some artistes added wool hair. The halos could be made from a variety of supplies; tiny gold napkin rings, metallic pipe cleaners, garlands cut to size, aluminum foil, tiny stars, and more.

         One Christmas season, the Guides and I painted acorns to resemble itty-bitty Santa heads. The caps of the acorns were painted red to represent Santa's red hat. The rest of the nuts were painted with shades of peach to reflect skin tones, and white for the beards. Eyes were applied with black dots of paint.

         Ah, those were wonderful crafting times... Did I mention the miniature birch bark canoes we created?