How to Make Amazing CORK Christmas Tree Ornaments

While you are getting merry this season with your favorite bottles of red and white - start saving your wine corks (you may already have a nice little collection) and turn them into amazingly awesome Christmas tree ornaments. Cork is the bark of the cork oak tree. Most cork is grown in managed forests, primarily in Portugal and Spain, where the cork is carefully harvested in a centuries-old tradition using hand tools and without pesticides or fertilizers ensuring the trees will remain undamaged. So remember to support this amazing industry by buying your wine with cork stoppers!

To make these little beauties you will need:

Corks, Buttons, Glue, Pleather Cording, Eyehooks, Slip Rings and Some Cute Little Christmasy Things to Hang From Your Corks

1. Start with a button that is about the size of your cork or a bit larger and thread it with a strand of pleather from the bottom up
2. Stack on a few more buttons and tie it off. Give your pleather a few more inches for hanging and trim.
3. Using a pair of sharp little scissors dig a little hole in the top of your cork so your bottom button sits flat
4. Glue the button to the cork and let this set
5. Twist an eyehook into the bottom of your cork and add a slip ring
6. Now you are ready to add any cute little Christmasy things you can think of to dangle from your corks

REwrapping this year - Boxes and Bows

Go green instead of spending green this year!

You will need: Scrap paper (a colorful magazine page looks great), cardboard packaging (here I am using a dog food box), scissors, stapler, twine, paper cutter (or ruler), glue

1. To make the bow cut several strips of paper down to 8.5" X .75" and one piece to 4" X .75
2. Loop each strip ends back into the center and staple
3. Staple all your looped pieces together at 90 degree angles and top off with the 4" piece looped and stacked on top
4. Flatten out your cardboard packaging
5. Find the glued side and carefully separate the cardboard to open the packaging
6. Turn the box inside out and reglue it back together (or tape it if you are going to cover the box)
7. Telephone book pages run through a paper shredder make a great replacement for tissue paper
8. You can now decorate your box to your own style- or keep it simple with some twine and your recycled bow!

Black Friday thru Cyber Monday (otherwise known as Thanksgiving weekend SPECIAL in honor of LUCY)

I once had a chicken named Lucy. She appeared in our yard one day and kept trying to get into our house by flying into the windows (unopened windows...ouch, poor Lucy!). My generous hubby would walk around the yard with Lucy at his feet looking under rocks for crickets. This next part gets a little gross. He would toss the cricket on the ground to stun it and then Lucy would gobble it up - hey the girl had to eat! She would jump into our laps when we sat on the patio and nibble on our toes when we ignored her. Our dog Hershey would chase her around the yard and she would fly atop the patio umbrella to get away. When fall came (and the chicken clean up got a little too much- chickens require a lot of clean up, if you know what I mean) we took Lucy to a farmer down the street named Junebug where she lived happily ever after with other chickens and one lucky rooster, laying a gazillion eggs for farmer Junebug.

When Etsy announced a Thanksgiving weekend site-wide super-sale I somehow thought of Lucy ... I mean Lucy wasn't a turkey, but she was the closest friend to a turkey I have ever known ... So I have decided to participate in this sale in honor of Lucy. I will be offering customers a free I AM A GOOD EGG cork small necklace as well as donating 1 CHICKEN (yes, as in cluck, cluck) to World Vision (the gift of a chicken will provide a family with a lasting source of nutrition and income. Fresh eggs raise the levels of protein and other nutrients in a family’s diet, and the sale of extra eggs provides money for other household needs) with their purchase of any 3 items between my 2 shops from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Hoping to donate a little flock, clutch, peep, brood - what the heck do you call a bunch of chickens anyway?!