This fall I gathered a plethora of acorns on my walks at the local park.  I’ve never seen such a variety of sizes and styles and browns in acorns.  Of course, I probably never took the time to look before.  This year in my quest to decorate on less than a dime, I turned to Mother Nature.  And oh my… did she provide an abundance.

I wanted to create a centerpiece for my Thanksgiving table setting.  I had already made lovely oak leaf chargers, so I did what we all do when we want inspiration, I popped over to Pinterest.  While I was looking at pretty tablescapes, I saw an acorn basket and that sparked my creativity.

At first, I went looking for a bowl.  I had in mind to fill my acorn bowl with apples and pears and a few leaves to go with my new dinnerware.  But, my local Goodwill store doesn’t have much to offer.  And usually, they price things two or three times what you’d pay at the dollar store for the same item.  But, I was determined to find something.  The store often puts displays of household items over the clothing racks, almost above my head.  Another circle around and I found a basket.  I think it’s designed for serving dinner rolls. It was the perfect size for my project and the color was just right too.  Score!  $2.99 plus tax and I was on my way to a pretty centerpiece.

This acorn basket takes a few acorns, to say the least.  Be sure to collect lots of acorns and prepare your acorns for crafting and decorating as I explained here.

How to Make an Acorn and Oak Leaf Basket

 Supplies: Contains affiliate links

• Sturdy basket to make the base for the acorns
• Acorns and acorn caps (I used about 100 acorn and 120 acorn caps)
• 30 or more small oak leaves (prepared)
• Low Temp Mini Glue Gun and glue sticks
• Rust-Oleum Clear Gloss Spray (not pictured)

Steps:

In showing you how to make an acorn and oak leaf basket, I want you to know there is no “right” way to decorate your basket.  When I began covering my basket with acorns I didn’t have a plan.  Feel free to be creative and see what happens.

Otherwise…here is my method:

• Sort acorns and caps according to size.  This will make the process a little easier.
• Begin with the bottom row.  I used my largest acorns here. (You can see here where I started and ended.  I didn’t pre-sort my acorns.  I kept looking for the largest ones as I went.  You can see the spot where I ended, the acorns were quite a bit smaller than when I started.)
• Be careful to glue acorns onto the basket so that they are not touching the table.  This will help so that there isn’t any pressure on the acorns when you have the basket filled.

• Here, the second row is made up of acorn caps.
• Using acorn caps will lighten the weight of the basket over all.  It will also create a change in texture.
• Try to keep the top of your row level, as much as possible.    Some areas use larger or smaller caps to help keep the row fairly level.

• Next I added caps to the rim of the basket, covering the outer edge, to give it a nice finished touch.

•  This time instead of lining the acorns up like little soldiers, I used smaller ones of varying sizes.  Filling in the gaps allows for a little creativity on the second row from the top.

• Add one more row of caps to the top layer.. row three.  You could add another row to the bottom if you prefer.

• Using small oak leaves that have been prepared, glue the base of the leaf to the basket.
• Continue adding leaves, overlapping as shown, until you have completely covered that row of your basket.
• Your basket is complete… except for one more optional step.

• Spray your acorn and oak leaf basket with clear coat spray for an extra measure of preservation.  And to give it a little gloss.

That’s it!  Really it’s quite simply and only takes about an hour to apply the acorns and leaves.

Your basket is sure to get many compliments.  Mine has.

It will be a lovely addition to your fall or Thanksgiving table as well as in your home decor.

I’d love to hear how you’ve been decorating with nature’s elements in your home decor!

Here are a few more ways I’ve been having fun with Mother Nature’s bounty: 

DIY Acorn Photo Frame

Pine Cone & Pampas Grass Wreath

Oak Leaf Thanksgiving Menu Frame ~ Tutorial

Thank you for stopping by today.

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Best wishes for An Extraordinary Day!
Diane

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