DIY Wine Cork Coasters

Whether it's Christmas, a Birthday or any other gift-giving situation/holiday in between I usually try to give at least one hand-made gift. I feel like it's more personalized than buying someone a random shirt that is going to go out of style or movie that will get buried away under the couch. Plus I love crafts! =)

A couple weeks before Christmas I stumbled upon a DIY cork coaster project and I immediately realized it would be the perfect gift for mi Madre! Mi Madre is basically a wine connoisseur. I knew this gift would be a great addition to her wine collection and even if it turned out bad she's my mom so she has to like it. 

Step 1: Drink lots of wine and collect tons of corks! 

If you have a short period of time to do this gift like me and don't want to kill your liver you can buy corks online here. Luckily I have connections to bartenders at a local restaurant and had them collect the corks for two weeks straight (I didn't want to take my mom's collection of corks on the off chance she noticed them missing and discovered my awesome present). 

Step 2: Get your supplies:

-Lots of corks! - Each of my coasters were in a 3-4-5-4-3 shape = 19 corks per coaster. 

-Hot glue gun

-Rubber-bands to help keep the corks together while the glue is drying

-Ribbon to wrap around each coaster

Step 3: Start Gluing! 

Like I said earlier my coasters were in a 3-4-5-4-3 shape, meaning a row of 3 corks followed by a row of 4 corks, and so on. I glued each row separate before gluing all the rows together to form a circle.

Step 4: Wrap It Up! 

Now that you have your coaster in a circle, use a rubber-band to hold it all together while the glue dries. 

Step 5: Ribbon time

Of course I was putting this present together on Christmas Eve (no surprise there) and didn't want to risk the glue not drying/holding properly so I left the rubber-band underneath the ribbon. But if you have let the glue fully dry and the coaster seems sturdy you probably don't need the rubber-band. 

Measure out your choice of ribbon and use the hot glue gun again to attach the ribbon to each cork. 

Step 6: Enjoy! 
Now that you have attached the ribbon to all of your coasters you are ready to go! Enjoy for yourself or give to a friend.

If you love wine and want to do something interesting with your collection of corks there are a plethora of projects you can do such as these epic masterpieces or these simple, yet fun projects. It all depends on how intense you want to get, either way get a little crazy and have fun with it! If I do this again I think I'm going to go with bright colored ribbon just to add some funk to each coaster.

<3Kasando