DIY Craft: How to Make a Decorative Wine Stopper

I love giving home made gifts but I am often short on time. These wine cork stoppers are the perfect gift and as long as you purchase the materials in advance you can whip up a dozen of them in an hour or so.

The trick to this project, even though it really is rather simple, is to take your time. You want to make sure to follow each step and read all of the instruction thoroughly.

For this project you will need the following items:

Bottle corks
Ruler
Pencil
Cabinet knobs
A standard screw driver
Craft Glue

There are a lot of different places where you can buy bottle cork as well as several different types of bottle corks. You can purchase bottle corks at your local craft store such as JoAnn Fabrics or Michael's. I like to purchase my cork from either a wine supply store or from corkstore.com.

Corks can vary in price. For this project I highly recommend that you go with a natural cork over a synthetic cork. It is a known fact that natural cork is the only sealing material which allows wine to age and mature in the bottle over extended period of time.

When purchasing natural cork there are two types. There is the cork has been agglomerated forming the main body of the stopper that has a natural cork end covering the agglomerated body are laminated with natural cork discs. There are also the natural wine corks are from specially selected corkwood, carefully inspected for flaws, washed, and sterilized. I like to use the natural wood cork.

The second item that you will be purchasing is the cabinet knob. Colorful and unique cabinet knobs are increasingly available at big box retailers such as LOWES and Home Depot, but you can even find cabinet knobs at places like target. I like to do an online search for cabinet knobs to find unique vintage looks that can not be found anywhere else. A few of my favorite sites are House of Antiques Hardware (http://houseofantiquehardware.com/) and Hardware Hut (http://www.thehardwarehut.com/index.php).

Once you have your primary supplies it is time to get started:

Gather your ruler, pencil, and cork.

Take the top of the cork (the fat end) and put a dot with the pencil in the middle.

Take your screwdriver and drill a hole through the cork.

Take a little bit of glue and put it inside the hole in the cork.

Screw the cabinet pull into the cork.

Place a dab of glue on the bottom of the cork hole. This will seal up the hole.

Let the wine stopper dry for 24 hours before using.That is it! See I told you it was simple! The creativity comes in picking out the most unique looking cabinet knob. You can just take a cork and glue a decorative object on top, but I find that if you are using a cabinet pull the wine stopper will last significantly longer.

Now crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy your new wine stopper after you have had a glass or two.