You can see in this picture of the wreath frame that you couldn't get a fat pine cone stuffed in there. They're nearly flat now. Break out the wires. I I don't think that hot glue would be very effective with the pine cones yet. They needed a base to be glued to. 
I've been collecting seed pods and pine cones for a while now. Then, I went to Florida where I fell in love with the pine needles on the ground in my daughter's yard. They look like they would be pine cones, but they are actually the needles! They're about a foot long but as big around as my pinky! I threw some in a bag and kept them in the freezer for the week that I was down there to make sure they had no bugs in them.
Here's how I made my wreath: I took the pine needles and splayed them around the wire wreath frame that I bought at JoAnn's Fabric & Crafts store, wiring them down with some fine wire. Perhaps I could have stuck them into the frame, but I didn't think about that till later. I wired them atop the frame. Then, I got out the cigar shaped Norway Spruce cones and wrapped wire around them to attach them to the wreath frame as well. I found these in a cemetery. Cemeteries are the best place to find cones. I love to wander in a cemetery to gather cones. It's such a peaceful place to be. Of course, if you live by a state park or something, that may be your best place to look. You can probably get them on line too. Once the Norway Spruce cones were down, I felt that I could hot glue on the smaller, round cones. These were found in a different cemetery. My Mom is great. She knows the different types of pine cones and where to find them. She's had a while to scope them out since she's lived in the area for 93 years now.
I went all the way around adding the round cones before I glued on the little bitty cones that came from a tree in my sister's driveway. It was one of those adorable little live Christmas trees that was planted beside the driveway. Now, the tree is so huge that the driveway has to curve around it! It's a beautiful tree with zillions of bitsy cones.
Now, we come down to the whole reason that I decided to make a pine cone wreath this year! I know. I tell you the reason after telling you the story. It must be a writer's trick to keep you in suspense or perhaps to drive you nuts. You pick. My yard is surrounded by Beech trees and Oaks. The beech nuts fell on my deck all summer, prickly, nasty little things that stuck in my poor cat's tail. I gathered them up, thinking how wonderful they would look on a pine cone wreath. Hmm. Maybe not so much. they're the prickly looking things on there. I gathered some acorns at the last minute to finish it up. The acorns look better than the beech nut shells. The beech nuts and acorns were hot glued on last of all though I may yet add some seed pods from a Rose of Sharon bush. We'll see.
When, I got out my Christmas decorations, I found a small set of battery operated Christmas lights. I stuck them through from behind. I tried wiring the box with the batteries in an inconspicuous spot but it ended up falling out from where I had wired it. It still didn't show, so I left it. It will probably fall, pulling all of the lights out. We'll see. Actually, I just pulled them out in the end.So, there you have it. I made a pine cone wreath reminiscent of my childhood wreaths and I'm really happy with how it came out.
I put white fluffy garland on the railings by my front stoop. I have a sack full of white bows from someone's wedding. I added a bow to the wreath. What do you think - bow or no bow? Hmmm. I guess, since you can't really SEE the bow, it doesn't particularly matter. Eh? A colored bow might be better, but since I don't feel like going out in the cold right now, it can wait. I'll work on that next year.
Folk had a hard time believing that the long floppy 'cones' could actually be the pine needles so I have posted these pictures to show them off. Thanks to my dear daughter, Cyn, for taking the pictures of the tree in her yard.
See?
