Winter Welcome

You can make this pinecone swag as long or as short as you need.

Pinecones and terra-cotta bells make a graceful, country-style swag for your porch or a lamppost.

• 5 or 6 large sugar pinecones
• Electric drill and drill bits
• Medium-gauge florist's wire
• Hot-glue gun and glue sticks
• 40 feet of rope
• 3 small terra-cotta pots
• Fir or pine boughs

1. Using a 9/64-inch drill bit, drill a hole in the base of each sugar pinecone. Insert one end of a 4-inch piece of wire into the hole, and secure it with a drop of hot glue. Twist the other end of the wire around itself to make a loop.

2. Cut the rope into 5-foot lengths, one for each cone. Thread one length of rope through the wire loop on each cone.

3. Cut the remaining rope into three pieces of varying lengths. Knot one end of each piece and thread the remaining end through the hole in the bottom of each terra-cotta pot.

4. Gather all the ropes in your hand and adjust them so the cones and pots hang at different lengths. Tie the ropes in a knot.

5. Wire evergreens to the ropes along the length of the swag.