Sparkly Sweetgum Fruit Craft

My apartment complex has one of those trees that drops the spiky brown balls everywhere. Some internet research revealed that these are actually called "sweetgum fruit." I love these things because they're unique looking, bring a natural element to crafting, and are free (as long as you have this tree)! I became inspired to use these in a craft by Martha Stewart's Sweetgum Fruit Wreath, but I wanted to do something a little more sparkly with them. Here's what I came up with. Hope you can find a neat way to work these into your fall/winter decor as well!

Materials:

• sweetgum fruit (the number that you decorate is up to you)
• foam brush
• glitter in color of your choice (I chose gold)
• acrylic paint to match the glitter
• paper plates
• newspaper

**A quick note about the sweetgum fruit--if you get these from nature, like I did, they will be accompanied by little critters. You can either a) vacuum them out with your hose attachment like I did, or b) stick them in a ziploc bag for a week to let the inhabitants die. If you're anything like me, once you get going on a craft, you don't want to put it on hold for a week...hence the vacuuming. Or you can order them online from an Etsy seller.

First, cover your work station with newspaper. Pour out some paint on one of the paper plates. Use the foam brush to paint the sweetgum fruit. Don't worry about covering every inch of the fruit; just do your best at getting a general coverage. Try not to glob on the paint, though. (Pay no attention to the plates...they're leftover from my graduation party!)

Immediately pour glitter onto the painted fruit. Do this over another paper plate to make for an easy clean-up.

Set the fruits aside to dry for 1-2 hours.

You can cut the stems off at this point or leave them on, whatever floats your decorating boat.

Here's a couple of ideas for what you can do with them.

Happy glittering!