Most styles I steal are home decor. Home decor gives me all the thrills, especially when I can really knock it out of the park with a knock-off trend. They seem out of reach, but most home accessories are cheaper and less scary to attempt than a fashion trend. You need the bare minimum for a big style impact. Since hit shows, blogs, YouTube and Pinterest have become landmarks for doing it yourself, it is almost difficult to narrow down to a project to complete. There are just so many to pick from!
Plus, they are not always as easy to complete with a small amount of time, budget and resources. There is no denying that rustic and farmhouse chic are huge trends right now. So much so that vintage stores and design stores are at an all-time low for legit unique decor. Stores are forced to craft their own versions of trends — or even buy the expensive ones on wholesale and mark up the prices. This is true for not only accessories, but furniture, too. Recently I have kept seeing these unusually big cotton stems. They just are so pretty and rustic — and ridiculously expensive. They cost almost $10 to $14 a stem. Like WHY??? It is a dead branch with old cotton buds. If you know what I am talking about and want to achieve this awesome low-budget home accessory trend, you will need only a few supplies and about a half hour.
Supplies:
Cotton balls
Pine cones
Clippers or needle nose pliers
Sticks or wood stems
1. Take cotton balls and work them gently into bigger balls. Roll them like you are making meatballs. Keep gently pulling the cotton into different sizes. Set aside
2. Next, take the pine cones and remove all the little petals with clippers or pliers. Set in a pile.
3. Heat up the glue gun and figure out where you want your cotton-bunched stems to go. Glue the cotton right to the branches or stems by making beads of glue at the base of the cotton. You’ll need a few seconds to dry and set the glue. Then, glue three or four pine cone shells around the cotton base — like a bud that is open. Glue the cotton buds wherever you want along the branches, like you would a flower. You can double them up, too.
4. Glue the little pine cones petals intermittently along branches as well.
Story by Jamie Burke
thePULSE
