If you are as frugal as I am, you should consider using recycled items and making new gifts for others from recycled materials. Recycled wine bottles and corks can be made into beautiful new gifts for the wine lover on your gift list. Save up your supplies throughout the year and recycle them into something new.
Recycled Wine Cork Ornaments
A set of wine cork ornaments is a very thoughtful and lovely recycled gift for any wine lover. You will need a set of wine corks, small eye screws, and some festive ribbon. Red ribbons look best, but you can also use gold, silver, and plaid ribbon. Avoid green ribbon. It will blend too much into the Christmas tree.
Simply screw one of the eye screws into one end of each of the wine corks. Cut a piece of ribbon about a foot long and thread the ends through the eye screw so that they create a loop at the top of the cork. Tie the ribbon into a bow around the eye screw to hide it. That’s all there is to it! A gift of a whole set of cork ornaments looks lovely on a Christmas tree and will be a treasured gift.
Recycled Cork Board
You can make a beautiful pin board from old corks. Cut each cork lengthwise to make two long pieces with one flat side. Use heavy-duty glue to glue the flat side of your corks down to the inside of a picture frame or a piece of board. A nice edge can be made from square wood dowels or by gluing a piece of ribbon around the edge. Use thumb tacks to stick notes to your cork board.
Gorgeous Recycled Wine Bottle Lamp
You can make a very simple and incredibly beautiful lamp from an old wine bottle. All you need is an old wine bottle with the labels removed, a short string of 100 white Christmas tree lights, and anything else you would like to decorate your wine bottle lamp with.
Push all of the Christmas tree lights down inside of the wine bottle. The cord will hang out the top and can be plugged into a nearby outlet. If you do not want the cord to be visible behind the bottle, you can secure it to the back of the bottle using a thin strip of clear adhesive tape.
There are several ways to decorate your bottle lamp. You could use etching from a craft store to etch a design onto your bottle or you could use it to frost the entire bottle for a cool, ethereal look. I have also seen bottle lamps decorated with glued-on metal filigree findings from bead and craft stores.
Recycled Wine Bottle Bath Salts
Save your wine bottles and corks and use them to hold your own handmade bath salts. Remove the labels using hot soapy water. Fill the clean bottles with your favorite bath salts recipe, seal it with a cork, and tie a ribbon around the neck of the bottle.
Reuse Wine Bottles and Corks for Homemade Wine
If you are looking for a unique gift idea, you could make your own homemade wine and store it in old reused wine bottles. Remove the labels before giving them away and make sure to seal them well with their original corks. You could even make your own labels to put on the front of your bottles.
Recycled Cork Stamps
Wood and rubber corks make great stamps. Stamps are also a great gift to give. Make your own set of stamps by cutting shapes out of craft foam with scissors or an Exacto knife. Glue the shapes securely to the bottom of the corks. Be sure to include a stamp pad and package them together in a crafty gift box.
Recycled Wine Cork Jewelry
You can make very pretty jewelry from wine corks. Slice your corks horizontally so that they are coin-shaped and approximately ¼ inch thick. Screw tiny eye screws into the round side of each piece. Cut a photo, magazine picture, or other scrap image into a circular shape to exactly fit the front of your cork and glue it securely down. Seal the image with clear acrylic sealant and let it dry completely. These can be made into charm bracelets, earrings, and pendants. They also make nice ornaments for tiny Christmas trees.
Recycled Wine Bottle Incense Burner
You can make a wine bottle into a mess-free incense burner. Decorate the bottle any way that you like. Using a diamond-tipped drill, make a small hole about ¼ inch in diameter near the bottom of the bottle. Be very sure to look online first to learn how to drill holes into glass without breaking it. To use it as an incense burner, place the small end of a stick of incense into a round keyring and hang it upside down inside the bottle.
Recycled Wine Bottle Flavored Cooking Oil
If you like to make flavored cooking oil, you can give it as gifts inside of old wine bottles. Make sure you remove the labels so that no one makes the mistake of thinking it is wine and not oil.
Wine Bottle Toy for Kids
You can make a really fun toy out of a wine bottle for children. All you need is a piece of parchment paper. Draw an elaborate treasure map onto a piece of parchment paper, roll it up, and tie it with a piece of string. Slip the parchment paper down inside the bottle and place the cork on top. The trick is to make sure that the paper is not so short that kids can’t get it out of the bottle and not so long that it gets smashed when the cork is shoved in.
Cork People Toys
Wood and rubber corks can be made into fun natural toys for kids. If the cork is not flat on one end, cut it so that it has a flat base and can stand up straight. Using acrylic paints, paint the corks to look like little people. Seal them with a clear acrylic sealant.
Recycled Cork Picture Frame
To make a picture frame from corks, cut all of the corks that you will be using lengthwise so that they have one long flat side. Glue them around the edge of a cardboard frame or a piece of mat board with a hole in the center. The edges of the corks should stick out over the cardboard so that it is not visible behind them. You can tape a piece of cardboard to the back to make it stand or screw an eye screw into the top to hang it on the wall.
