It is gorgeous in southeastern Tennessee. The flowers are blooming, the trees blossoming and the sky is clear. Easter is just around the corner. I came up with a few Spring {re}cork'd wreaths. They are whimsical and colorful.
The first one has a cute pink and brown colored ribbon wrapped around the wreath with pink eggs and the corks. It can be used for Easter and/or Spring.
It's simple yet festive and pretty. Pink and brown is my favorite color combination. I love the polka dots in the ribbon and it's studded with corks. Growing up in Southern California there wasn't much distinction between Seasons. Here in Tennessee, there are Seasons and after a long and strange weathered winter, it's wonderful to see all the colors and feel the warm sun on my skin and the gentle breeze blowing in the air.
Spring has become my new favorite Season. I love the colors. Here is another fun wreath. A yellow and green wreath, with some pretty little flowers and studded with the corks.
Finally, a cute little wreath that is colorful. Perfect for small places or just to add something Springy to your decor.
I've been having fun coming up with all these ideas for wreaths. Letting my creative side come out.
Not only do I {re}use old wine corks, I also take old items to {re}purpose them into new items. Here I've taken some old picture frames donated to me by a friend and {re}purposed them with the {re}cork'd theme.
The first one posted above, is a cool woven frame with a wood center. I removed the glass and placed the the corks in the center. This can be used as a decorative piece or you can use it as a cork board at your desk, to post up notes or pictures.
For a fun look I took this next frame that says "vacation" and jazzed it up. I added a few festive corks and some shells I collected from my trip to Cozumel. What says vacation more than some wine and sea shells? This is a great way to highlight your favorite vacation photo. A simple and fun way to {re}purpose a common looking frame and make it something unique.
Here, I took another old photo frame that already had a pretty design element to it. I highlighted it by adding some cork disks and then attaching some beads that complimented the colors in the frame. Taking something that is already decorated and giving it new life is a challenge. I didn't want to overwhelm it but wanted it to look natural and one-of-a-kind.
I love {re}purposing things. Taking something old and giving it a new life. It's also eco-friendly. I'm trying to apply more of these principles in my life. My dear friend and sister from another mother, Candi Dickens-Russell, has been a major influence on my life in regards to {re}cycling and being more conscience of my impact on our earth. Check out her blog, http://candiandscottathome.blogspot.com/. She practices what she preaches and I can't help but admire that. She and her husband, Scott are {re}modeling their house, largely on their own and using eco-friendly products and {re}purposing things as well.
I digress, so back to the photo frames. I took these items that my friend was going to throw away and I gave them a new personality, a new purpose that someone else can enjoy. It also makes them special and they stand out from the crowd of cookie-cutter, mass-produced items.
Here's another fun frame. A simple, but seascape inspired {re}purposed frame. Again, I utilized the cork disks and my shells from Cozumel to keep with the theme. Just something simple to make the frame stand out.
Lastly, I took an old-fashioned picture frame, took out the glass and placed natural corks inside the frame. This is a gorgeous and uncommon piece that I think would be best used as a piece of art. You can also use this is a cork board. It is a small 3" x 2" frame, so it's perfect for your desk or a counter top.
I had a great time taking these frames and {re}purposing them. These are for sale and you can email me at info@recorkd.com if you're interesting in purchasing any of them or custom-ordering a piece.
It's that time again...Valentine's Day. The day of champagne and roses, chocolates and candy hearts. Love in the air.
Looking for something different to give or receive on Valentine's Day? How about a {re}cork'd Valentine's Wreath? Each wreath is handmade and unique. You tell me what colors you like and I'll make the perfect wreath to proclaim your love for all things Valentine's.
Single? How about getting a Valentine Gift for yourself. Maybe you just love Valentine's Day, married, dating or single. It's the month of love. Even if it's just loving yourself, which is the most important kind of love anyway. If you can't love yourself, you can't love anyone else.
Taken? Surprise your sweetheart with this beautiful expression of love. Celebrate February as the month for love. Create a beautiful basket of loving and thoughtful gifts to show your special someone how much they mean to you. A bottle of wine, a love poem, candles, bubble bath, chocolates and a beautiful cork wreath. I'd love that as a gift.
I'm a February baby, so I feel a special bond with Valentine's Day. My favorite color is red. I used to think Valentine's Day was just an early celebration of my birthday. ha ha.
I love red and pink and hearts and flowers. I'm a true romantic at heart. Even when I don't have a sweetheart I like to show the people in my life how much I love them. My mom, my brother and sister, my friends, they are my Valentines.
Sons, want to show your mom how much you love her? She will be touched to receive a special Valentine from you that she can look at every year and remember how much her boy loves his Mom.
To order your own gorgeous wreath, email me at info@recorkd.com.
What else can you do with corks? How about some wreaths? I've made some fall wreaths and some Christmas wreaths and just every-day beautiful wreaths. Some are all cork and some are mixed with other materials.
For fall I made a simple wreath with some silk fall leaves and studded it with cork. It's simple and full of beautiful rich fall colors. You can use it throughout the fall, from September through November.
After fall come the Christmas season. I love Christmas. Full of fun and tradition and family. I have a few beautiful Christmas wreaths. Some small, some large and some in-between. Simple or complex.
This was a different Christmas for me, away from "home" and didn't have all my family around. Here in Tennessee with my brother and his family, we created our own version of what Christmas back home was like. We had a cork wreath to hang on our door.
Here are some other Christmas wreaths.
Small Xmas Holiday Wreath
Another Small Holiday Wreath
Medium Holiday Wreath
What do you think? What would you like in a Holiday Wreath?
What else can you make out of cork? How about some magnets. I LOVE my magnets. I think they are fun and clever and different. I make most of them from just cutting some cork in rounds. Attach a good quality magnet to one end and either a button, fabric, charm, etc on the other end. Voila!
I make magnets for seasons; Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. That highlight different locales; Italy, New Orleans, Paris, etc. Or just whimsical. Some are bejeweled and studded. Beautiful and sparkly.
At the festivals I've worked at the magnets are a big draw. Mostly by kids. They LOVE the magnets. They love the sparkle. They love the color. They just love them. I think it's adorable. The magnets are a great introduction to {re}cork'd. They are small and useful but pretty.
Cork is great material for trivets and coasters. They naturally absorb moisture and heat. I've come up with two styles so far and they can be used as coasters or trivets. The first design is what I call Disk style. I take the corks and cut them into disks and they lay them out on a ceramic tile 4" x 4". Then I fill in the white space with beads. They are sparkly and useful. I love how the wine-stained corks add to the color and design. You can get a set of 4 coasters for $5. What a great deal!
Disk Before Beading
Finished Disk Coaster
The other style I've come up is just a cork cut in half, you can see the design of the cork which makes each one a conversation piece and adds to the design. You can use these for coasters or trivets. Again, a set of 4 costs just $5.
Ok, I must admit that I really thought that this little venture of mine would just take OFF! I mean, it's unique and incorporates {re}cycling, is fun and all that. Why wouldn't everyone just love it and want to buy stuff from me all the time. The reality is that it's just like any other business and it takes time and nurturing and marketing. To do all that you need motivation.
I am equal parts highly driven/motivated and ambivalent. Or maybe I should say, easily discouraged. This whole project is teaching me so many things. Patience, patience, and more patience, along with some gumption. So now I have to find more ways to promote and sell my product. I always had the idea that I wanted to find some cool little shops to sell my items in. There are in fact such shops in my new town of Chattanooga. For some reason I have procrastinated in getting out there to try and get these shops to buy my stuff. Why? There are a few reasons, but I guess the main reason would be self-doubt, the fear of rejection. What if I go out there and they don't want my stuff? That would suck.
Back-story and a little self-analysis. I've had for most of my life a huge fear of rejection. It stems from a few sources that I won't bore you with, but it's there. And as I reflect back on my life, I've not done a lot of things that I've wanted to do because of it. In my journey of becoming the new me, I have to recognize that and continually conquer that fear.
It seems silly to not go out and try to sell my product for fear of rejection, but there it is. So what did I make myself go do today? I went out and hit the streets (ok, really just one street) and went to find some shops who might be interested in my products. I got an application for one consignment store and cards to make appointments with two other shop owners. If this works out, this will be a great boost to me, and if it doesn't well, it's not going to kill me and I faced the fear and attacked that procrastination monster.
I've been having fun coming up with all these ideas for wreaths. Letting my creative side come out.
