Triple DIY: Wine Cork Christmas Ornaments

If you’re anything like me or my mother, you have a whole lot of wine corks lying around your house and not a whole lot of things to do with them. Since the holidays are here, we thought it would be fun to make some Christmas tree ornaments!

Our favorite DIYs are always ones that you can do with a glass of wine. So, pour yourself a glass of Pinot Noir (save that cork!) and plug in your hot glue gun—we’ve got three holiday tutorials to help you decorate your Christmas tree this year.

DIY Wine Cork Angels

Supplies:

• One wine cork (for the body)
• One large bead (for the head)
• Thick ribbon (for the wings)
• Thin ribbon (for the bowtie and to hang the ornament)
• Gold wire (for the halo)
• Hot glue gun + glue

Instructions:

1. Plug in your hot glue gun. Let it get warm.
2. Glue bead to one end of the cork. Let dry.
3. Use the wire to make a halo, and glue it to the back of the cork, behind the head.
4. Create wings with the thicker ribbon by folding each end and gluing them together in the middle (or you could just tie a large bow). Glue them on the back of the cork.
5. Tie a small bow with the thin ribbon and glue it to the front of the angel. Take an extra piece of the same ribbon and glue it to either side of the body, so you can hang it from your Christmas tree.

DIY Wine Cork Reindeer

Supplies:

• Three wine corks
• Two black beads for eyes, one red bead for the nose
• One piece of brown pipe cleaner (for the antlers and tail)
• Thin ribbon
• Cutting board and a serrated knife
• Hot glue gun + glue

Instructions:

1. Plug in your hot glue gun. While it gets warm, carefully cut two of the corks–one down the middle width-wise and the other in fourths. Discard the second half of the one you cut in the middle.
2. Glue eyes and a nose to the other half-cork.
3. Create antlers and a tail by folding snippets of the pipe cleaner into the appropriate shapes. Glue the antlers to the head and the tail to the whole cork you didn’t cut.
4. Glue the head to the body.
5. Tie a small bow and glue it to the front of the body, below the head/face.
6. Glue the four pieces of cork to the bottom to make the reindeer’s legs.
7. Finish by gluing a medium-sized circle of ribbon to the back, behind the head. This is what you’ll hang the ornament from.

DIY Wine Cork Grape Clusters

Supplies:

• Nine wine corks
• Green, red, or purple paint–or gold! (Whatever color you want your grapes to be.)
• Green ribbon
• Hot glue gun + glue

Instructions:

1. Assemble your wine corks–these will be the grapes. The rows are as follows: two, three, two, one, one (the last one is at an angle). Glue each row separately.
2. Dip each grape row into some of the paint. You could use a brush for this, but a disposable plate works just fine (rub off the excess paint on the same plate).
3. Let the paint dry before gluing the rows of corks together.
4. Tie a big green bow to be the leaves–glue it to the top and add a ribbon hoop for hanging.

I’m always trying to make more time for fun little crafts like this, because I always have the best time using my hands and being creative–hopefully there will be more in 2015! Until then, happy holidays to you and yours.

Photos by Sarah Gatrell of Photo + Love.