Not convinced...

Am I a Monday-morning curmudgeon or do these look kinda crappy?

"Pinecones don't have to be just for the holidays..."

And yet, winding fluffy white yarn around them looks like nothing so much as ... snow.

Pinecones paired w/coral and driftwood for a "beachy" look? Even if the photo showed actual driftwood instead of a twiglet, I'd say... no.

It looks kind of like mold. Or fungus.

I don't get it.

I agree with the above comments. It seems as if this blog is seriously taking a turn for the worse. It has become like lets just throw something together and it will be good enough for our readers.

NOTE: APARTMENT THERAPY - your readers are intelligent, skilled, and most are in professional positions and take a few minutes of their time to look for an escape, or ideas for dinner or decorating. We are not just bored with life and looking for something to fill up time. Please keep this in mind when you post articles and especially when you hire creative writers and staff. Thank you.

Oh no.

Add me to the curmudgeon list.

This is more like cheap crafting, not design.

Yeah apparently I'm not the only one with a case of the mondays. That yarn is freaking me out and makes it look like some creepy spider web or cocoon. Not a fan.

I don't really understand how yarn-wrapped pine cones have any connection with coral and driftwood, but to each his/her own, I suppose. Maybe it looks better in person? It looks to me like an elementary school winter craft.

O.K. Thanks, everybody. I'm not alone, then. I've moved on from "This does not work for me" to wondering "Why does this so not work for me that it actually makes me ANGRY?"
Angry-making craft-fail: The new thing.

@thatkris

EXACTLY

Angry-making craft-fail...too perfect.

I think this might have worked with yarn in bright colors so it was an obvious craft item. As it is, it just looks like something weird is up with the pine cones.

Dangerous to ask "what do you think", wasn't it?

Nope. Doesn't work. The pine cones were beautiful natural sculpture before being messed with, and looked lovely with the other props. The yarn was a mistake.

I have taught art and I craft "professionally" sometimes (meaning I sell my things at a profit.) It seems to me that a certain contingent of folks out in the world seem to consider it a legitimate thing to label anything where human hands misguidedly tamper with some existing object from nature or the trash as "craft". In the middle ages, the concept of "craft" implied mastery. We need to get back to that. Wrapping yarn around pine cones is more like an "activity". For kindergarteners. Sorry, but there you are...

@thatchris..my sensibilities had that same reaction and hurt my mind..no..pinecones are good on their own..and not bothered with.. : O

sigh..I meant, @thatkris

In Jamaica we have pine one trees in the country and shells and driftwood on the beach. I have mixed them all together as it is quite natural to see. I don't see Christmas when I see pine ones, I see life in the parish of Manchester.

The yarn has to go!

It might be a fun winter-time craft with a little kid, but I don't really like this. It looks like craft for craft's sake, not for beauty's sake.

I prefer pine cones with lovely, neon-painted tips... but I'm biased, since I collect naturey bits like pine cones and sticks, and then paint them neon. It's oh-so-summery!

hi there everyone. Jen here... sorry my craft has been so upsetting to many of you. I've started experimenting with centerpieces for my wedding in October and I tried this project out. It was really easy, cheap, and I would never claim for it to be a "professional" or revolutionary craft. I hope I didn't offend anyone, I was just experimenting with looks for my wedding and sharing with my readers. To each his own I guess!

Keep experimenting. The parts are greater than the sum here.