This post is sponsored by Plaid Enterprises.

We’ve been having so much fun turning nuts and pinecones into Christmas ornaments, we thought we’d add one more to the list: painted peanut squirrels! Last year we turned mixed nuts into llamas, snowmen, and Christmas trees and these squirrels are ready to join the party! Squirrels love nuts and seeds, so it’s a little bit funny that these ornaments are made of one of their favorite snacks. I guess you really are what you eat!

Giving these little guys a pastel makeover is easy as can be with a few trusty bottles of Folk Art Acrylic Paint. You can literally make a whole rainbow of painted squirrels to decorate your tree with this year! See the full step by step instructions below.

• Folk Art Acrylic Paint
• Paintbrush
• Peanuts (in shells)
• Pipe cleaners
• Mini pom poms
• Felt
• Hot glue gun
• Black marker
• Scissors
• String

Step 1
Pick out your peanuts and give them a coat of paint all over. Let dry.

Note: When selecting your peanuts, avoid the single or triple nut ones, sticking to the doubles. Picking smoother, standard looking peanuts make for the best-looking squirrels later!

Step 2
Double over a matching pipe cleaner to make it a little puffier than the single strand. We used these fluffy pipe cleaners, but regular ones will work too – just layer a few more strands in to make it even puffier like a squirrel’s tail. Give the tail a slight bend as shown, and trim so that it is just slightly taller than your peanut.

Step 3
Pick out which side of the peanut you’d like to be the front and then hot glue the tail to the bottom of the back.

Step 4
Next hot glue four matching mini pom poms onto the peanut to be the squirrel’s legs.

Step 5
Cut two tiny ears out of matching felt and hot glue to the top of the peanut.

Step 6
Repeat so that you have a whole rainbow of squirrels!

Step 7
Finally, turn them into ornaments by cutting a piece of string about 4″ long. Tie into a loop with an overhand knot and then hot glue into the gap between the back of the squirrel’s body and the pipe cleaner tail, holding in place to secure.

Since these ornaments are made from peanuts, make sure to keep that in mind if you plan on giving these as DIY gifts this holiday season. If you aren’t sure if a friend or family member may have an allergy, play it safe and use the smaller, oblong pinecones (like these) instead of peanuts.

Happy crafting!