corks – A Smith of All Trades

Paper flower arrangement

June 26, 2014June 26, 2014 Jessica Smith

I went to Hobby Lobby to buy one knob and left with my knob and a ton of fake flowers. Hobby Lobby has the best flowers. I especially love their paper flowers, which don’t look real, but also don’t look like they are supposed to be real.

The best part about the flowers was the price! Each sprig was 80¢ on clearance.

I scooped up all of the clearance flowers to make an arrangement for our family room. I wanted to use the vase that we used as our unity candle for our wedding. It’s been sitting in our guest room with the half-burned floating candle collecting dust. Instead of filling the vase with the glass marbles that often accompany floral arrangements, I decided to use corks. We got married at a winery, so it made sense to use corks with the vase for that reason. Plus, I have so many corks! So, corks were both creative and cost effective!

I tried out my plan before cutting any of the flowers down.

Once I decided that I liked the cork and the flowers in the vase, I cut down the stems to fit.

Then, I started to put everything together in the vase. This was easier said than done because the corks didn’t really want to fall nicely in line. First I tried stacking them so everything was in a vertical line. Five tries later… I gave up on this method.

I opted to stick the flowers in first, then just toss all of the corks in and let them naturally fall into place. It seemed like the only other method to try, so I just did it over and over again under they fell a way that I liked.

Here’s what I came up with:

This picture took forever to take because someone kept getting in the way….

This was after he stole a cork and ran away with it, forcing me to chase him under our kitchen table. The joys of having a mischievous dog. Thanks, Rem.

Anyway… I love how this turned out and that it is secretly sentimental. If you look close you can see the inscription from our wedding. You can also see little specs of the green stem.

For now, the arrangement is living next to our television. I want to jazz up this space a little bit so it is less black.

We’ll see if it drives Brian nuts having a few sprigs in front of the TV.

If you see any clearance sprigs at your local HL, pick ’em up! They add such a nice pop of color and a fresh look to a room.

Christmas, Craft Projects, DIY GIFT GUIDE, Holiday, Wine Crafts

DIY GIFT GUIDE: Ribbon-Wrapped Cork Letters

December 9, 2013December 7, 2013 Jessica Smith

This summer I scored A TON of free wine corks for a winery in Hamburg, New York. Talk about a sweet score, huh? I saw all of the corks in a bucket and asked what they did with them. The woman working told me they threw them away! CRAZY! So I scooped up hundreds of corks to take home and am nowhere close to using them all.

When we were at the winery, my cousin asked me to make her daughter a wine cork letter for her room, so I did a variation of my wine cork “S” post.

Supplies:

Wine corks
Small wooden letter
Ribbon
Button
Tack
Hot glue

Steps:

Space out the corks on the wooden letter.
Hot glue the corks straight to the wood.
When the corks are all secure, place a glob of glue at the bottom of the letter to secure the ribbon.
Place glue along the center of the corks, securing the ribbon as you go.
When the ribbon is wrapped all the way around, fold the end under and secure with glue.
Tie a bow out of the ribbon and pin it to the cork using a tack.
Embellish bow with a button.

Christmas, Craft Projects, DIY GIFT GUIDE, Holiday, Quick and Easy Crafts, Wine Crafts

DIY GIFT GUIDE: Wine Cork Wine Charms

December 1, 2013November 26, 2013 Jessica Smith

Wine Charms

Need quick and easy gifts to give this holiday season? Over the next few days I’ll be sharing some super simple, super affordable gift ideas — all made with things you probably already have around the house.

Today’s gift idea: Wine Cork Wine Charms

Brilliant, right? Who wouldn’t want to make a wine accessory out of something that comes in wine?!

Supplies:

Wine corks
Permanent Marker or Stamps
Drill
Hoop Earring findings
Jump Rings
Cutting tool

Steps:

Using a knife, scissors, or any other cutting tool, CAREFULLY cut your cork into half-inch thick pieces. I recommend creating sets of 4 or 6, so cut enough to make as many sets as you’d like to gift.
Using a permanent marker or a stamp, draw or stamp your design onto each cork sliver. It is important to note that each design should be easy to remember and different from one another. For example, I drew numbers (well, my neighbor did) on my corks. If I had stamped different scrolly patterns on each, you’d never remember whose wine was whose.
Drill a hole through the top of each sliver. Test out your drill bit size on a scrap piece of cork.
Put your jump ring through the hole and tighten.
Attach your hoop earring finding by looping it through the jump ring and bending the straight end into a sharp angle. This will prevent the circle on one end of the finding from sliding off of the other end and will allow it to stay on the wine glass.
Fill up your wine glass, add your charms and end enjoy!

Charms