‘Home made Christmas decorations & warm winter drinks’
There is nothing more delicious than warming apple glögi (a type of mulled wine, but without alcohol drank during Christmas time) when spray painting pine cones in the coldness outside. The glögi is wonderfully aromatic from all the winter spices that has brewed into a festive comforting drink.
Pine cones have long been used as autumn and winter decor, so this year I decided to spray paint some in festive colours. I’ve been slowly collected different types of pine cones since November; tiny ones with stems, traditional long ones and smaller circle type that have dried for many weeks.
Recently, I picked up a variety of spray paints in metallic shades of silver, gold, copper and white. I layered the colours for different effects when spray painting the pine cones, some more dense and others more softer. For instance, I lightly layered some white on top of the metallic hues for a snow effect and mixed silver and gold together for a warmer effect. The copper paint almost looked like rose gold, which I loved and together with silver, the shade was quite beautiful. Delicately using just white spray gives an antique minimalistic look, that really reflects a nordic style of decor.
If you wish to do the same, all you need is spray paint, dry pine cones, newspaper to lay the pine cones on and disposable gloves. Spray paint the pine cones outside and leave them there to dry before lifting them inside, as the fumes are quite intense. To hang them on the Christmas tree, just wrap some floral wire at the top end of the pine cone and make a little hook on the end where its easy to hang it from.
These pine cones look pretty in glass vases with candles, incorporated into gifts, table settings or wreaths.
Homemade Pale Apple Glögi
1/2-1 L freshly squeezed apple juice
1 Clementine sliced
1/2 tablespoon cardamom
2 cinnamon sticks
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons Brown sugar/honey (optional)
1 star anise & a few cloves
Add all the ingredients into a saucepan and gently heat for 30minutes. For extra sweetness add some sugar or honey, even though I personally think it does not need it. Sieving the glögi is also optional and to spike it, add some white wine just before serving.
