Photo Source: The Curtis Casa Used with permission.

Now that temps are rising, it’s time to get outside and enjoy the outdoors! Spring is a beautiful time to dine al fresco or just relax with a nice glass of wine on the patio. Watching sweet little birds in your backyard can add to the experience.

Encourage birds to flock to your yard with a DIY Wine Bottle Bird Feeder! If you’ve got basic woodworking skills, you can make this project. You’ll need some wood, exterior paint, a few tools, and of course an empty wine bottle.

Instructions

Want more details on how to make it? Stop by The Curtis Casa for Whitney’s step-by-step tutorial on how to transform a wine bottle into a bird feeder.

Janel Piersma is virtual assistant, diy craft blogger, mom, and “law school wife” in Virginia. She blogs about motherhood, DIY, crafts, and living on a student’s budget at Life with L & E.

Photo Source: Janel of Life with L and E

by contributing writer Janel Piersma

Spring offers so many wonderful opportunities to entertain — from Easter and Mother’s Day brunches to baby and wedding showers. One way to make a brunch or shower feel special is to set a pretty table. Get out the good dishes and cloth napkins and then add a stylish touch with a unique wine cork craft–napkin rings!

These napkin rings really aren’t difficult to make at all. Create your own “beads” from wine corks and then add some contrast with store-bought beads of your choice. Your napkin ring is essentially a little “bracelet.”  You can also make larger “bracelets” to dress up basic glass candle holders too and incorporate them into your tablescape.

Wine Cork Craft: Napkin Rings

Supplies

• wine corks
• sharp (non-serrated) knife and cutting board
• sharp pointed tool – I used a bamboo skewer
• beading elastic
• beads

Photo Source: Janel of Life with L and E

Instructions

1.  Make your wine cork “beads.” A sharp non-serrated knife works best. Hold the cork securely on the cutting board and cut the cork into circular slices with long, sawing motions. Using this motion will provide a smoother and straighter cut.

2.  Poke a hole through the center of each cork circle, using a sharp pointed tool, like a bamboo skewer. Since cork has a tendency to “spring back” into shape, you may need to twist the tool a few times to make the hole bigger. Now you have your cork beads.

3.  Thread your cork beads and store-bought beads in whatever pattern you choose, leaving the elastic attached to the spool.

Photo Source: Janel of Life with L and E

4.  Tie the bead string into a circle, when you have a long enough length for your napkin ring.  Be sure to pull tightly and knot the elastic two or three times to secure. Snip off excess elastic. This little “bracelet” can now be used as a napkin ring.

Photo Source: Janel of Life with L and E

Other DIY Projects for Entertaining

• Cork Place Name Holders
• Easy Wine Glass Charms
• Cheese Markers for a Wine & Cheese Pairing

Janel Piersma is virtual assistant, diy craft blogger, mom, and “law school wife” in Virginia. She blogs about motherhood, DIY, crafts, and living on a student’s budget at Life with L & E.

Photo Source: Mox & Fodder Used with permission.

It’s no secret, wine corks can be fun to collect, especially now that vineyards are getting more creative with their cork design. But, how can you display your collection? Wine cork crafts are a fun and functional way to do that.

Cork Chandelier

Kathryn and Joey from Mox and Fodder came up with an ingenious way to reuse an old fan grate and transform it into a cool and unique decor piece for their home.

If you don’t have an old fan grate to use, you can check thrift stores like Kathryn and Joey did. If you still don’t have any luck finding one, try these ideas.

Fan Grate Substitutes

• Embroidery Hoops – Get a few wood embroidery hoops in different sizes from the craft store. Use the solid inner rings and place them in concentric circles. Use wire or string to tie them in place together. You’ll need to create a hanger at the top, and then suspend the corks below.
• Craft Wire – Create your own hoops with heavy-duty craft wire. You could try something like this Panacea Naturally Wired Wire. Twist the ends of a length of wire to create your own hoops. Lay them concentrically and attach them together with more wire. Again, you’d need to create your own hanger too.

Be sure to stop by Mox & Fodder for more specific instructions on how to assemble your own DIY Wine Cork Chandelier!

Janel Piersma is virtual assistant, diy craft blogger, mom, and “law school wife” in Virginia. She blogs about motherhood, DIY, crafts, and living on a student’s budget at Life with L & E.

Photo Source: Karah from The Space Between

It’s holiday season! That means special family dinners, parties, and good times with loved ones…oh, and maybe some champagne to celebrate too!

If you’re hosting a more formal dinner party, why not dress up the table with these cute place name holders made from champagne corks? These are seriously easy to make — the hardest part is finding enough champagne corks. If you’ll be popping any bubbly at your Thanksgiving meal or holiday celebrations, start saving those corks!

Stop by Karah’s blog The Space Between for this Easy Champagne Cork Name Card Holder tutorial!

source: Janel Piersma

As you might have discovered, wine bottles can make great vases. If they have a cool-looking label or if the wine was particularly memorable, you can simply clean the bottle and use it to hold some fresh flowers. However, you can also dress up an old bottle to give it a different look.

Check out this raffia-covered bottle tutorial from Janel at DIY Your Way. With some raffia and hot glue, you can transform a simple wine bottle into a rustic vase that is perfect for your Thanksgiving decor. For a more interesting look,  group vases made from wine bottles of different shapes and sizes. Several flower-filled vases made from mini wine bottles would look great as part of a Thanksgiving tablescape.

photo source: Janel Piersma

If you’re hosting a Halloween bash, why not add a little spooky wine bottle decor? Woman’s Day Magazine has 5 Spooktacular Wine Bottle Crafts that will add that special something to your party table. Just remove the wine labels and get creative with paint pens or spraypaint! Check out their tutorial for the step-by-step instructions on how to transform a simple wine bottle into a ghost, vampire, jack-o-lantern, ghoul, or spiderwebs.