Earlier this year I was on the hunt for some crafty ways to use all the corks we’ve amassed over the past few years. I found there’s a whole new world of do-it-yourself projects using wine corks. Everything from bathmats to wreaths to keychains. After searching Pinterest for said cork ideas, the app has since been serving up more and more ideas of what to do with all the corks. My head has been spinning!
Then, a couple weekends ago, my daughters and I attended a craft fair at a local elementary school and purchased a lovely Christmas tree made of recycled wine corks. We thought it was so cute and immediately, the light bulbs went off above our heads. We can do this!
We set out to purchase the supplies for crafty cork Christmas trees with the intent to gift them to the teachers in our lives (who thankfully do not read this blog so it’s OK that I’m sharing this)!
A trip to Joann Fabrics and A.C. Moore to obtain the accoutrements and we were all set to go. This was our shopping list:
Hot glue sticks
Hot glue gun (for Maria to use)
Gorilla glue (in case the hot glue didn’t take)
Rhinestones (shades of green)
Sparkly puffballs (red, green and white)
Buttons (red and green, as well as assorted)
Ribbon (in festive holiday colors)
Gift bags
Tissue paper
Each Christmas tree required us to choose 13 corks of the same size. We glued together two, three, four and three to form the tree, followed by one cork for the top. We also glued ribbon to the top from which the tree could be hung. A few trees simply had a bow at the top. After gluing the tree together, we let it set and then added the bling to each cork front to create the final design.
In addition to trees, we also created a snowflake and a few candy canes, too. It turned out to be a fun activity for a cold, rainy Saturday. Christopher and Lucia got in on the action, too, selecting the bling and designing the trees.
One thing I learned from this whole endeavor? You really don’t need Pinterest to create a neat craft. All you need is inspiration and imagination. As far as wine goes, it had a leading role in the crafting since drinking it resulted in the corks we used for the trees. But, I don’t recommend drinking it WHILE crafting. 😉 Cheers!
