Issues → September/October 2009 → Home and Garden →
Craft Projects with Acorns
Magnets and napkin rings
by Caroline Woodward
Make refrigerator magnets and napkin rings with acorns.
This season is an ideal time to harvest some of New England's woodland bounty for yourself.
Yankee's acorn crafts will dress up your kitchen and dining area in true autumn style--sure to bring a smile to the faces of your family, friends, and guests.
Go nuts!
Refrigerator Magnets
1. Pull off each acorn's cap. Then use an X-Acto knife to remove the little circle (the "cup scar," as botanists call it) at the top of the acorn.
2. Using a nut pick (or dental pick), remove all the meat from inside the acorn's shell.
3. Insert a small, high-powered magnet into the acorn. (Keep neodymium buttons out of the reach of small children.) Using a wooden toothpick, position the magnet on the side of the acorn as close to the top as possible (so that the acorn will hang right side up). Use a small dot of hot glue to keep it in place if you need to, and let dry.
4. Now put on your work gloves and fill the acorn to overflowing with hot glue. (Don't hold the acorn in your bare hands, as the glue will make it uncomfortably hot.)
5. Replace the cap. Now you've got a "magic acorn" (my 4-year-old's term) and a nice fridge magnet!
Materials:
Magnets: acorns, X-Acto knife, nut pick, wooden toothpick, hot-glue gun, magnets (such as 1/4-inch ProMAG Neodymium Magnetic Buttons, sold at Michaels and other local craft and hardware stores)
Napkin Rings
1. Remove the acorns' caps. Drill an 1/8-inch hole in each cap, as close to the center as possible.
2. Fold the lacing in half, and feed both ends through the bead.
3. Feed 1/4 inch of each end of the lacing into the hole in an acorn cap. Use hot glue to reattach the caps, securing the lacing in the glue between cap and acorn. (Caps may ride a little higher than before, but that's okay.) Let dry.
4. Slide the bead close to the acorns, and twist the lacing loop around the napkin twice. Slide the bead back toward the napkin to tighten the lacing and hold the napkin in place.
Material:
Napkin rings: 2 acorns, drill with 1/8-inch bit, 22-inch suede lacing, 1 bead (with hole large enough to hold a double width of lacing), hot-glue gun
Reader Comments
Comment from Linda Spicer on September 16, 2009
I am going to do this but use them as curtain tiebacks! Thanks for the idea!
Comment from Shelley Jackson on October 20, 2009
I think they would make nice Secret Santa gifts (with a set of napkins).
Comment from tina foley on October 21, 2009
These are so adorable! As I am writing to Thank You for this great Idea, my husband is using the 1/8th drill bit to 48 of these little hats! I am planning on making a set of 8 for my youngest daughter as an Apartment warming gift on Thanksgiving Day that we will be visiting her for and th remaining are for ME. :) Thanks again and keep the ideas coming !
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