"Normal people probably throw away the shells from pistachio nuts," jokes crafter Kelli from Ks Craft Shack.
But not her. "I love to reuse stuff," she explains. "I'm not quite a hoarder-level saver yet, but I do often keep things that would otherwise end up in the landfill because I could maybe use it someday."
If you're a crafty person, you can probably relate, because like Kelli, you have the ability to see beyond something's original use and into its potential, how its shape, texture, or color might be turned into something new and different.
And that's what led Kelli to stock up on hundreds of pistachio shells. But when you see what she made with them, you'll see why it was a great idea to save them!
To make an unusual decorative wreath, Kelli and her family apparently ate quite a number of pistachios. Luckily, pistachios are not only tasty, but a great healthy snack choice. And when they're opened properly, the shells stay intact.
Read on to see Kelli's brilliant project. If you have a good bit of time (we're not going to lie, this is a time-consuming project!) and a whole lot of pistachios, you can even try this yourself!
[H/T: Ks Craft Blog]
Cover photo via Flickr / How Can I Recycle This
First, Kelli gathered up her supplies.
She started with a 14-inch wreath form, some hot glue (well, a lot of hot glue), and the washed, dried shells from about three pounds of pistachios, which she and her family snacked on for months before starting this project.
As an alternative, you can always shell all the pistachios and then simply store the nuts for later.
Then, it was time to glue the shells to the wreath form. In Kelli's words, "This part takes FOREVER." She also used a low-temperature hot glue to reduce the setting time.
The shells were arranged in these floral shapes.
This was the most time consuming part of the project, as you can imagine.
In all, Kelli says the wreath took a total of about 20 hours to make, stretched out over the course of about a month.
But don't worry. It's totally worth it.
Finally it was finished! At least, the shells were all in place.
It already looks beautiful, but Kelli wasn't quite done.
She wanted to add some color.
Although she actually quite liked the natural color of the shells, she didn't like that you could see a lot of the hot glue holding the shells in place.
Here, she created some more florets with extra shells to test out some different finishes, and even crowdsourced opinions on Facebook and Instagram.
And turquoise won out!
"I might have a little bit of a turquoise obsession," she admits.
She decided that instead of spray-painting it for a solid color, she would actually use two different shades for extra dimension and texture.
"After all this work and all of this effort, protect the wreath!"
Kelli sealed it with oil-based polyurethane. Depending on the paint or stain used to color the wreath, you may not have to do this, but her stain required an oil-based sealant.
For some added embellishment. Kelli used a letter S, for her family's last name, and painted it copper for a nice contrast to the turquoise.
She also added a ribbon for hanging.
Looking at the the wreath, you might never guess that these started out as humble pistachio shells!
From a distance, the floret arrangement and the turquoise color make them almost look like little succulents.
Depending on the color, a wreath like this can be used for decoration anytime of year, or all year round!
Check out more of Kelli's projects on her website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And if you know someone who loves turning ordinary things into beautiful ones — or just someone who really, really likes pistachios — SHARE this clever project with them!
