We collected these large gumnuts off the side of the road a few weeks back. When we got them I had full intention of using them for Christmas as I like an Aussie touch to things :) Today we checked that they were all open (some were still green and hadnt bloomed when we found them, but left outside the middles just dry and fall out) and we used the back end of a paintbrush to poke into it and clean out any seeds. Then we painted them (the natural look is really pretty too but my kids love paints), sprinkled some glitter, tied/glued bows on and lastly glued the 'jingle' part of our bell and we had a pretty little bell. You could tie thin gold cord onto the bow to hang it on a tree, add a small tag for kids to give their friends for Christmas, glue to a ring for napkin rings, glue a mini peg to it to hold a placecard, or string some together for a festive garland... you decide.
'opened' gumnut
I did only set out 'Christmas' colours of gold, silver, white, red, green, and sparkle paint... but Miss 3 quickly discovered she could make her favourite colour PINK lol
'jingle' glued inside with hot glue gun
our finished bells
I got the 'jingle' parts from Spotlight for under $2 a packet
