A Few Cards Short of a Deck(ed Hall)

I have to begin with an apology. I had grand plans of documenting each step of this project and giving everybody a step-by-step how-to to make their own. And I thought I did. Until I sat down to write this post and realized I hadn't taken all the photos I thought I had. I didn't even take a final product photo before wrapping it up and giving it as a gift. So bear with me. I think I can do this so everyone gets the gist.

What we're building is a wine cork wreath. Here is a list of the materials you will need:

• Wine corks (champagne corks work too) - you'll need lots of them so I enlisted family and friends to help me save them
• Styrofoam wreath - I used a 12" one
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Moss - I like the reindeer moss found at Michael's
• Fabric or felt to cover back of wreath
• Twine for hanging
• Ribbon for bow

You will want to start by playing around with your corks and seeing how you like them arranged before gluing them. Since I was working with a variety of champagne and wine corks, I arranged the champagne corks on the top of the wreath and the wine corks around the inside and outside. When you have something you like, just start gluing. Try not to burn your fingers with the hot glue!

Don't worry about the corks not fitting in tight against one another. That's where the moss comes in. Once all your corks are glued on, squeeze hot glue into the crevices between the corks and fill them with the moss.

Once all the moss is in, I like to cover the back of the wreath with fabric or felt to help protect the styrofoam. In hindsight, you could create nicer, finished looking back by putting the fabric on first and wrapping it over the edges a bit, then gluing the corks and moss on. Maybe next time...

Then I just take a length of twine and loop it around the top to hang the wreath with and add a bow. Here's a website I found on how to make different kinds of bows. That will have to suffice since I didn't take a photo of my bow. Admittedly, my bow did not come out as nice as the ones on that website so maybe it's best you didn't see it.

And now for the final reveal! Or not, since I made the biggest blogger faux pas out there and forgot to take a shot of the final product. But even though I don't have a photo of this wreath, I took one of the wreath I made for myself a couple years ago so I think you'll get the idea.

That is a super sad looking bow. I might have to redo that for myself now that I found directions on how to make one. And I have to say I really like the variety of using both champagne and wine corks instead of all wine corks like on the one I made for myself.

My last tip is that as you collect corks, you might end up with a lot of the synthetic ones. I don't like to use them on wreaths but don't throw them out. I found that they work well in place of stones in the bottom of flower pots for drainage. Then your pots aren't as heavy to move around.

So start drinking and get crafting!