Cork Christmas Tree

My husband's family has a "make-it or bake-it" tradition for Christmas every year and I saw this on http://www.pinterest.com/ and thought I could make it just as well.  I had a bag full of corks from PawPaw (he was the family wine maker which has now been passed to my husband) that I could use.  I have seen corks at JoAnn's in packages of 3 or 4 and it doesn't matter if they are new or used.  Some of mine were used and some were not.  I think the wine staining on some gives it character.

Supplies:

Corks (new or used)
Hot Glue
Ribbon

I layed out the tree on my kitchen table to get the look I wanted.  Try to keep your corks snug, you may have to swap them around a bit.

Start with the bottom row 1st and glue 14 together and make sure they sit flat.  This is your base, make it sturdy.  You can go as wide as you want as long as it is stable.

Start building from there.  On your nest row, place hot glue on top of the first row and in the grooves where your next row will sit.  I glued about 3 at a time.  Make sure they are pretty much flush with each other so the weight is distributed evenly.

Keep going row by row until you reach the top!

I used wired ribbon to give it the billowing effect.  Just tie a bow and hot glue on top and Viola!

If you need any better instructions please email me.  I am an avid "just wing it" girl so I am not real specific because sometimes I'm not even sure how I got it to do what it did!

I promise to make my next tutorials a better.  THIS WAS MY FIRST OF MANY I HOPE!

LeiLeiBird