I recently purchased a bunch of corks from an etsy seller and have been waiting to do this fun project. She promised 100 all natural corks with one ladybug cork in the mix. I received 99 natural corks and one synthetic cork. (And yes, I totally counted all of them upon receipt. I’m just that anal.) However that synthetic cork combined with the cute ladybug inspired me to do something fun, so I will forgive her trying to slip me a fake. And by the way, can I just tell you how much I am LOVING my new camera! I’ve wanted to be able to zoom in and capture photos like this for years now. Years, I tell you! Oh such joy. Let’s just pause and admire the ladybug shot, shall we?
Okay, enough gawking. Let’s get on with it. Gabriel Brothers (who should really put me on their payroll at this point) always has incredible frames at ridiculously low prices. I buy them up whenever I see them. These frames were originally priced at $29.99 each, and I got them for $3.99.
I played around with a cork design before gluing them into place on the glass, and then I just went for it. Don’t worry if they don’t all fit perfectly. You can cut the cork to size to make it work.
Here is what the imposter cork and some of the plain corks inspired me to do…stamp ’em! I had so much fun further embellishing my corks with some stamps I had in the craft closet.
If you look closely below, you can see that I added some flowers on either side of the “2005” stamp, added the word family to the top right cork, added the word always to the synthetic cork, and stamped a heart on top of the right corner piece. These little touches added some necessary bling to the plain jane stamps.
Sorry for the blurry pic here, I was precariously perched on my sideboard while taking this photo and must have moved. This guy below was the first board I worked on and you can see that the bottom corks are cut to size. It’s not perfect, but I love it anyhow.
Wanting to bring in the green from my walls and have something unexpected in between the cork boards, I remembered that I won this great botanical print from Jane ages ago and had yet to find a perfect spot for it. The print was perfect but the frame wasn’t working for me.
Sometimes (more like all the time) I have no patience to wait for things to dry. This is a great tip which I call Lazy Girl’s Glaze. Spray some black spray paint into a paper cup and then take a small foam brush to paint on your “glaze”. You have to work fast because it will dry immediately. Paint on as little or as much as you want to get the effect you’re going for.
And here they are looking fabulous above my sideboard! I am thrilled with how they all turned out. (In case you’re wondering, my wall color is Benjamin Moore’s Rosemary Sprig. It’s my green. I’ve used it in previous homes, in homes I’ve decorated in our neighborhood, and in my master bath and dining room. Love it!)
This project took me a couple of interrupted-watching-the-kid hours to create. If you don’t have to watch kids while doing this, I’d say it would take about an hour.
Little project time with a big impact is so what I’m all about! 
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Too much fun! What kind of glue did you use?
Hi Donna, I just used my glue gun and hot glue. Worked great!
very cool, I like the whole scene and how you added your own stamps. they blend right in. so would you dare take a tiny pin and post a note or a quote on that? or some black and white photos of loved ones? eek?! it could add too it.
Very cool use of corks! Love your exposed brick wall. Maybe you could put a couple of bottles of unopened wine in the basket on the sideboard to bring the 'wine' look down to the table top. I'm definitely going to have to ask friends to save us some wine corks, they also look awesome in your apothecary jar.
How sweet are those, girl! So original. Love the rustic look against that to die for brick wall of yours I want so so bad. WANT!
Thanks for sharing on SNS!
FJ Donna
Something about the texture and color of cork looks so warm…great project! Love your brick wall, too!!
I love these and have always wanted to make one…. and I just might be stealing that paint color for our new place….
Hey, I remember that frame! I love what you've created here. The corks look great against the brick, and your whole wall now is a nice big focal point!
You just amaze me with how much you can do in your dining room to make it look more perfect. Awsome.
what a fun idea! and i'm still super jealous of your brick wall! 😉
Love this!
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So pretty, Beth! We have a big one of these cork boards up in my husband's office.
I'd never thought about stamping corks though!!! That is an EXCELLENT idea!!!
Great idea!! Thank you for the spray paint tip, as well, I think it will work for a frame I have.
This idea is sooo good. Simple but effectfull. Simply love it!
Irma
LOVE the decor! And I have a hundred or 7 corks around…what a good way to repurpose them.
Beth, What a fantastic idea! Tony saves every cork…we just store them in a jar, but this is so much prettier! So glad you shared 🙂
Wendy
I love your wine cork boards, they turned out so well and I love the tip about the spray paint. I am very impatient, I just love to see the end result. xx
Love this!! I never thought of buying corks on e-bay! ANOTHER great idea!!
Looks fabulous!
Lou Cinda
I've been saving corks for several years just so can do this project. I saw it a long time ago in a magazine and have wanted to try it ever since. My husband drinks a couple 2 or 3 bottles of wine per month, but I've been diligently saving those corks in the hopes of one day creating this project. Yours looks great!
I would love to know what she charged you ???
Pls don't shoot me when I tell you I just threw out a whole bunch 🙁
I saw on Martha awhile back she made a message board out of them….
All the best,
Kathy 🙂
Very nice!! 🙂 I have a corkboard like that…T's aunt and uncle have a wine cellar and saved many many corks to make some boards for family one Christmas. They are so cool. I love the way you hung yours. 🙂
I SO wish I had a bricked wall. someday. 🙂 This is lovely, as always!
These are really cool! And you used pretty near 50 corks in each one (I counted too). Such an original idea! How do you come up with them? So cool!
I like how the corks mimic the brick wall.
I LOVE the corks; the stamp idea was mah-vel-ous, dahling! I also adore the green (and the brick wall)!!!!!!!
Very nice! Love the added stamps.
I like this, Beth! Not only hanging in a dining room, but I could see this working well in a man's office, or if you are lucky enough to have a devoted area for your wine. I love the frames you got ~ what a deal and they are really nice looking frames. I'm always looking for great frames now.
How do you hang things on brick? I have been meaning to spice up our exposed brick. The wall lanterns are so cute!
Love the corks! Love the painted frame! Love, love, love the brick wall!!!!
Thanks for sharing.
Brooke
I know how you feel about your camera. I got mine this past Fall and I still get giddy when I can get a special shot. Have fun!
So cool!!! I love how you improvised and added the stamps. I have said it before and will say it again, I love that exposed brick wall. LOVE IT! And I also really like the green color. YOUR green color. 😉
Love it!!! For years, I collected all the corks that we had from when we lived in Germany and always wanted to do a project like this. I recently threw them all away because I had in my head I would never do it and I was purging as we moved. Now I could kick myself! Oh well, I guess I will have to just drink more wine!!!
that looks great! I have a huge bowl/vase thing that I toss my wine corks into. I don't know how many I have but I hope to fill the whole thing up someday.
I have seen one of these…somewhere. Who know where, but I loved it! And your's turned out WONDERFUL! Beautiful job!
Rebekah {All Thingz Related}
It looks great, Beth.
It looks great on your brick wall, kind of old world looking!
Ooh, I love this! I love any decor that has an Italian or old-world winery flair, and your little project here is perfect!!
Whoa, you're reading my mind. I was going to tweet today and ask if anyone had any ideas for corks !
I love what you have done with the corks! What a lovely corner you have created. Sorry 'bout the impostor. I will have to double check my work next time:) Thanks for the link to your blog. I love seeing what others are up to!
Molly P
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mollyphoenix
That is fantastic!! I love how it all looks against your brick wall… gor-geous! 😉 Great idea by stamping words on the cork… I haven't seen that before!
~Jennifer
I love these! I remember the Nester doing something similar a long time ago. But she certainly didn't embellish her corks so cleverly or risked life and limb taking pictures of her project for us.
I really love them and they look great above that dresser on that wonderful stone wall.
neat..would never have thought of that one.
Lanie, here she is! http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=24919304
I love this! And that is a fantastic deal on frames. Do you have a link to the Etsy seller? I may want to invest in some cork, too.
These look great! I, too, collect wine bottle corks. However, I don't have enough for my dream project….wine cork backsplash in my kitchen 🙂 Guess I better get drinking. Donations accepted!
Projects turned out nicely, especially liked the fern leaf, but what I really like is that brick wall. It's really pretty.