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

DIY GIFT GUIDE: Ribbon-Wrapped Cork Letters

Ribbon Wrapped Cork Letters

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:

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

Cork E

Life

Beer Scavenger Hunt

All my hubby wanted for his birthday was cake and beer. Being the birthday lover that I am, I was a little sad that he didn’t want to celebrate turning 27 with our friends and didn’t want any awesome gift. So I decided to make his request a little more exciting by sending him on a scavenger hunt to find his beer.

So, I snuck out one night to do some grocery shopping and to stop by one of the liquor stores in the area that has a nice selection of craft beers — Perfect Pour is the bomb! I picked out 28 unique beers (one for good luck!), and stashed them in my craft room so he wouldn’t find them. Then, I created 18 clues (they all rhymed!!) and strategically hid all 28 beers around the house and the yard. I also hid one at the neighbors. It was a lot of fun to watch him hunt, and it was a fun way to make his birthday a little more special.

Clue #1: Remmy likes to eat these, sometimes more than treats. Sometimes they are stinky, ‘cause they belong on feet.

Clue #2: All you asked for was cake and beer, I guess you’ll want one cold. Better find the rest real fast before you get too old.

Clue #3: Don’t hate me too much, some beers come in pairs. For your first set of two, go check the Harry Potter closet underneath the stairs.

Clue #6: You know who’s quite the loser? That Steeler’s boy – Big Ben. You know what’s so much cooler? Your beer that’s in the den.

Clue #9: I’d rather have a power tool than a brand new, shiny ring. Good thing they’re all so organized, you can find everything!

Clue #13: Modern Family and New Girl are the bomb. So is HGTV. Good thing ours is a 55 incher, with totally awesome HD.

Clue #15: While you’re outside, you should probably check the trees. Just watch out – don’t step in Remmy’s poop or pee.

I hid about half of the beers while he was playing a video game… so sneaky 🙂

Then, he ran out to get tonic water at the grocery store, so I frantically hid the rest. As he pulled into the driveway my neighbor shouted, “HE’S HERE!!!!!” I tossed the last beer into a pile of leaves, which was really hard to find later, and ran inside to meet him.

Also, to throw him off my sneaky scent, I went out and bought a 12-pack earlier in the day to keep good on my “cake and beer promise.” Haha I felt a little ridiculous buying even more beer when we had 28 bottles at home. Oh well!

All in all, he had a great time. If your man is a beer lover, you should totally do this for him. It’s hilarious to watch them hunt and is a manly(ish) way to make them feel special on their birthday.

And don’t forget the cake! Purple — just for the Ravens!

Wipe that scowl off your face, boy. You loved the hunt 🙂

Happy birthday to my favorite husband. I hope it was a low-key and special day, just like you wanted. <;3 You are always such a good sport.

Craft Projects, Quick and Easy Crafts

Clothespin Candles

Pinterest is amazing, huh? I see some of the cutest stuff on Pinterest and I love when I get around to trying my own version of these creative ideas. One idea I’ve been wanting to try is making a candle holder out of a tuna can and clothespins…. except I think using a tuna can is sort of icky. Don’t get me wrong, I love tuna — but I think I would forever convince myself my candle would smell like fish, so that is a no go.

I made a project out of a mason jar that I haven’t shared with you quite yet ( it needs one last thing that I can’t seem to find anywhere!), but because of that project I had an extra lid lying around. Perfect!

I wanted to make a permanent candle holder, so I pulled out my hot glue gun to make sure no clothespins would fall of this bad boy.

I placed a bead of glue on the inside rim of the lid, then popped the clothespin on top. Once it dried, I did the same thing on the outside.

More than 30 clothespins later, I had a nice form for my candle holder.

Time to embellish — I pulled out my roll of twine and carefully glued it in the naturally created ring in the middle of the clothespins.

As a final touch, I added gold buttons around the twine and a small, glass tea light holder. Voila!

The fun thing about this candle holder are the shadows it makes on the wall and ceiling.

I also like the rustic look that the clothespins give off.