Acorn to Birds Nest Ring

Crafting from nature in the autumn season can yield some awesome projects.  From all the beautiful warm colours and all little gems that have fallen from the trees, crafting ideas are abundant and often, free.  I always wondered why people would buy a bag of pinecones, acorns or twigs from the decor department of a store, when you can pick them up for free outside?

I was walking my little guy a while ago and saw a bunch of acorn tops strewn across the grass and sidewalk. 'I could do something with these', I said to myself as I started stuffing them in the stroller pocket.  Which brings me tooo.... acorn week!  Yes, yes.  I was so inspired, all my posts this week will be acorn related.  It also means I went back to pick up more acorn tops lol.  A LOT more.

The first project I'm sharing with you is a sweet little birds nest ring. 

Choose an acorn top.  Make sure that it has dried out (not green). 

Find a few round things to use as eggs.  I found some beads in my craft supply stash.  The only problem, they weren't the right colour.  I stuck them on toothpicks and painted them blue, then gave them a clear coat.  If you have clay, you could mould little eggs, or even use little stones.

Once my 'eggs' were dry, I glued them into the acorn cap with some E-6000.  I used it because it dries clear and well...it's just awesome stuff.

Next, I took some craft moss I had on hand, and glued little bits around the eggs.  If you don't have moss, you can raid the garden for little teeny tiny twigs.

Enter the ring base.  I snagged these handy dandy ring blanks from our favourite daily deals site, Pick Your Plum.

Using E-6000 again, I adhered the nest to the ring base.  I found the nest needed to be flatter on the bottom to glue it to the ring base, so I 'sanded' it using an emery board.

Time to show it off :)