DIY: Christmas wine-cork placeholders

Gifts of homemade food are very popular, from biscuits to cake mix. Even wrapping paper and tree and table decorations, increasingly, are made in small DIY projects. For various reasons creative recycling has become widespread in recent years, and is characterised by objects no longer used for their original purpose gaining a second life, and by readily available low cost materials. The important thing is to be creative in doing what you want to do, and create a personal style.

Fans of creative recycling are quite often collectors of seemingly useless items such as cans, bags, boxes and belts. If you are passionate about wine, then you may also be a collector of corks. If you have enough of them in your collection then this DIY project is definitely for you. Corks are useful items because they can be reused in various ways. Together with other natural elements, corks can be used as Christmas tree decorations, gift tags or placeholders, as we will see shortly. Why use natural elements for decorations? In particular for holidays such as Christmas, it is very suitable to use natural elements in various handmade projects. In this period pine and spruce can be easily found as well as wild bushes like holly, hawthorn and clover with their red berries that are perfect for Christmas decorations. All wild plants that can be gathered in the open country cost virtually nothing.

Christmas wine-cork placeholders

What you need

corks, string, branches with berries (e.g. holly, hawthorn, clover)

Instructions

1. Take a branch from the bush you want to use (I used hawthorn), take off a leaf and a pair of red berries.
2. Tie them together with string, remembering to use a piece of string long enough so you will be able to tie it to both the cork and the napkin.
3. Tie the leaf with the berries to the outside of the cork.
4. Finally, tie the cork with the decoration to the napkin. Alternatively, this same decoration can be used to decorate a Christmas tree or can be attached to a gift bag. In addition to the classic wine cork, you can use champagne corks, for example from this Spumante Rosè Extra Dry Millesimato 2015. 
If you are not yet a collector of corks, this small DIY project is a good reason to start!

By

Simona Pirrone

Biancavaniglia

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