DIY Wine Charms!

One of my favourite things is to with my completed crafts is to give them as gifts, and what better time to do that then during the winter holidays! Today I am going to tell you about one of my all-time best to give as a Christmas present DIY: wine charms. My parents are always inviting more people to dinner, which means that the number of wine glasses around the room is almost always unpredictable, so unless you keep a tight grip you will end up playing wine glass bingo. To solve this issue I made my mother a few sets of wine charms... made out of wine corks!

Supply List:

- Wine cork (1 per 6 charms)

- A pencil and ruler

- Knife and cutting board

- Acrylic Paint (6+ colours) and brush

- Eyelet screws (6+)

- Wire hooks (6+)

They don’t take too long from start to finish, a twenty minute craft opportunity! (I tend to have time for crafting during the household nap time.)

Step One: Take your cork(s) and with your pencil and ruler combo mark off where you are going to slice. Mark your corks to be about . inch with a small line. If you feel confident you can skip this step. I like to cut my cork in half, and then take each half and divide it into three.

Step Two: With your knife and cutting board cut straight slices through the cork. I like to use a chef’s knife- preferably one that has been recently sharpened… but if your house is anything like mine this isn’t the case! I would highly suggest against using a serrated knife in order to obtain a smooth surface on the final product.

Step Three: Take the eyelet screw in one hand, and a cork slice in the other and aim to hit the center of the edge with the screw tip. Screw in a straight line to avoid coming through the side partway down! Repeat for all cork slices. (You can also do this after step four.)

Step Four: On each cork slice paint your desired image onto it. I like to use all stars, but paint them in different colours. But be creative! You could put the first letters of your family, a last name letter in different colours, different shapes, the options are endless! Let the paint dry.

Step Five: The last step is putting the wire hooks through the eyelet tops. The hooks I used were straight, so I made sure to bend the very end, about 1/8” from the end, to a 90-degree angle to make sure that they stay on once they are on their respective glasses.

These are great easy gifts to make for everyone you know who drinks wine! They are fun, classy, and even use up a part of the drinking experience you would have otherwise thrown away! So open a new bottle and enjoy your new charms! Cheers! Amelia.