How many times have you looked at an item online or at a store, and thought, “I can probably make that pretty easily.”

Such was the case with this particular craft.  A friend sent me a message, with a picture of a Christmas tree made out of wine corks.  It was an item that could be purchased, and was cute, but since MM had recently commented on the cork container being full, I figured maybe I could figure out how to make them myself.

Turns out, it was crazy easy.  All I needed to do was figure out which corks should go together, and which ends should face which way.

Then, it was just using some hot glue!  I decided to go with four corks at the bottom, and then make a pyramid from there.  I considered using only three at the bottom, but those trees ended up looking stumpy.  Five was too many – I needed 4 for my gifts, and I didn’t have enough corks to have five corks at the bottom of each tree.

I asked MM if he would be willing to drink more wine for me, all in one weekend, but he declined.  🙂

After getting all the bottom row complete, with lines of glue on the sides, I changed it up a bit.  A line of glue on the cork on the side, with a line opposite on the cork below.  I may not have a great picture of that, but hopefully you understand what I mean.

Once the corks were in a pyramid, I let them sit for a bit, just to make myself more confident that they were solid.

The next step was getting the stumps ready.  While it could have been done using regular corks, MM and I had kept a bunch of sparkling wine corks from early in the summer – you know, those days where it’s gorgeous out, and you just have to have lunch on the deck.  And why not have a glass of Prosecco?!?

Those corks were pretty much perfect – the way they tapered really made them look like tree trunks.  MM helped me to cut the rounded tops off, as straight as could be done, and I then hot glued those as close to the center of the bottom four corks as possible.

Next up was attaching a star.  I picked up an assorted container of metal stars (from the scrapbooking area of the store), that looked to be the right size.  The problem was that getting them attached to the top of the corks wasn’t going to happen.  I didn’t like having the star directly on face of the top cork, either.  So, I compromised.  I have the star on the face of the top cork, but only half way.  See?

Finally, because I wasn’t sure that the people I’d be giving these to would want the trees sitting on a table or some other flat surface, I decided to add a closed loop to the top, with a ribbon.  I found the hardware in the frames area – they’re the loops that you’d use for attaching hanging wire to the back of frames.  Worked like a charm!

And now, the finished product:

I like the look of them with just the corks.  For those of you who might not like that look, feel free to add colorful paper circles, buttons, etc., to the front of your trees.

Enjoy, and have fun with it!!