DIY – Wine Bottle Sweater, Wine Cork Trivet & Gift Tags

This is a little late in terms of giving people quick and easy gift ideas, but I’m going to share this year anyway.  And you should start drinking up now to save wine corks for the trivet.  Read on for zero dollar, non time consuming DIY projects: a wine bottle sweater, wine cork trivet, and gift tags. 

Warning: this is a long post, including a trip to Napa.

Wine Bottle Sweater

We usually give Umma a bottle of wine for Christmas. Instead of wrapping up the brown paper bag with a ribbon like I did last year, I thought to make it a little prettier when I saw this! I’ve been collecting old sweaters from friends for a birthday party project, which also came in handy here! I love being resourceful J I just snipped the sleeve off where it was a good length for the bottle, folded it inside out, hand sewed the bottom shut, turned right side out, slipped the bottle in and folded the cuff!  Added a ribbon, a childhood ornament, and a tag made from an old Christmas card (see below) and ta-da! Cost zero dollars, took five minutes and is way cuter than a brown paper bag, no? J

Wine Cork Trivet (the thing you put under hot pots/pans)

When I was in Napa a few years ago, we stopped in the tourist center to grab a map of wineries.  I spotted a trivet made out of wine corks and of course said, “I can totally make that!”  PS – I love Napa and highly recommend that everyone who enjoys peaceful natural surroundings and wine should go.  I can’t wait to go back. Probably when we’re old.

*aaaahh* I digress. Back to the art project...I wanted to make the trivet special to the Napa trip that we loved, so only collected corks from the wineries we visited.  But since I ended up making this for Umma, I should’ve just collected all of our wine corks over the years.  Note: I would only keep the real corks, not the plastic coated ones.  I’m guessing those could potentially melt under hot temperatures.  So to make the trivet, I made a pattern when I thought I had enough corks (24 in this case) and just glued away.  The first time around I used a hot glue gun. That didn’t hold up very long.  Have I mentioned I hate glue guns?  So the next time around I used super glue. Let’s see how long it lasts.  Cost zero dollars, I got to drink lots of booze, and is way cuter than a plain round cork trivet you get at the store, right? J

Gift Tags

Back to being resourceful…come January, instead of throwing away all the pretty Christmas cards we get, I save them. Of course. I actually save any card we get, if it’s pretty (birthday, baby shower, wedding, etc). When I need gift tags made, I just cut out a section of the card and write on it and done!  Literally two seconds and zero dollars. And adds to the pretty presents that you know I love so much J Aren't those little penguins cute? Thanks Tues!

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