Valentine’s Day Wreath DIY

I made this Valentine’s Day Wreath DIY from the corks of the wine our family has enjoyed this past year. It reminds me of all of the special family dinners we had at home.

Don’t laugh, but I am calling this my Quarantine Wreath. (But it really is a Valentine’s Day wreath too!) Over the past ten months, our family has had a lot of wonderful dinners and celebrations at our home. Many of these dinners were very special. I decided it might be fun to create something that would remind us of all of those evenings where we stayed home, enjoyed our family, and, um, drank a lot of wine.

How to Make a Valentine’s Day Wreath

Today I am going to show how you can make one of these Valentine’s Day wreaths.

I made this up as I went along. Fortunately, it worked out great! I absolutely love it.

And guess what? It was free! the materials list is minimal and I already had everything.

I used a lot of corks. you will soon learn that I ran out and had to reach out to my friends to get more! I guess we should have drunk a bit more …

Where to Find Wine Corks

I used about 288 corks on this wreath. Since this is the first time I had made a wreath like this, I had no clue how many corks I would need. When I made the pattern in this size I had no idea how many corks I would need. I just liked the size and went for it.

I am pleased to say that we didn’t drink 288 bottles of wine during quarantine.

But we did drink a lot. I promise

As I was laying out the corks to figure out how to make them all fit, I realized we didn’t have enough corks. I didn’t panic because when I made our Cork Dartboard, I figured out where to find used corks. For free.

First off, you should start collecting your own. You can also buy them here. Then reach out to your favorite restaurants and bars and ask them to collect them for you. You can even drop off a nice jar for them to collect the corks for you (it’s a good reminder). Wine tasting rooms, wineries, wine stores, wine clubs, and classes are other great places to reach out.

All of these recommendations have access to lots of wine corks and you can likely find them very quickly.

Preparing the Corks

All corks are not the same. About 80% of them are the same height. I chose to cut the tall ones to match the standard height. I wanted more uniformity. It’s not hard, I just used one of my good kitchen knives.

Also, corks are of different widths. If things aren’t fitting right when you are adding the corks, I suggest you substitute different widths. It works every time!

How to Make a Wreath Form

You need a wreath form to use as a base. You can make a circle or a heart or a square or whatever you want. I cut a pattern out of paper, and then cut it out of a large piece of cardboard I found in my craft room.

I ended up having to cover the printed backside with white tape because when I hung it on a mirror the writing showed! You might want to do it before you start. I would have just painted the backside white had I realized it earlier.

• 

• 

• 

• 

The width of the wreath is 3 1/4″ wide, which just happens to be the width of my cell phone. (It’s true, I used my cellphone to determine the width.) I will pretend that I knew in advance this is the perfect width of four wine corks. Sometimes I just get really lucky.

The wreath form measures 17″ tall from bottom point to center top. It is 19″ at widest point. You can make it smaller but just remember that the width should be the width of two, three, or four corks.

If you are enjoying my blog, you can sign up to receive my blog updates here. .

Start Out With Some Planning

What You Need to Make This Craft

• wine corks (used) I used about 288 corks. Feel free to make a smaller wreath!
• Cardboard for the frame
• Paper to make frame pattern
• Glue gun and lots of glue sticks
• Wire for hanger

Fortunately, you will benefit from the fact that I had to do a lot of planning to make this wreath. In other words, you shouldn’t have to make any of my mistakes.

I knew I wanted to do an ombre effect so I sorted all of my corks in four different shades, darkest to lightest.

The first thing I did was add a wire hanger to the wreath. Be sure and do this before you start adding corks.

I did lay out all of the corks in the darkest color as I wanted to figure out how many I had. I also wanted to figure out how to lay them out so they would look good.

It was easiest for me to start the wreath by gluing them in rows of four, across the width. I started in the far right lower corner and glued four across. Then I kept adding rows of four more as I progressed up and to the left. You could also add the corks along the entire outside and then fill in the subsequent rows. It’s up to you. Once I figured out how to lay them out I started gluing them with a glue gun.

Don’t forget to exchange thinner for fatter corks (and vice versa) when you need to make things fit.

As the wreath started to bend, I changed my process of applying the corks in rows of four to finishing the outline of the outside of the wreath. I then filled in the other rows.

This is a great progress shot. It’s not perfect but it looks good. The line across the top of the corks was my guide as to there I should start the lightest corks.

There will be times when you will be meeting the corks together from two different directions. As you get close, make sure the corks fit, as you don’t want a leftover gap. I had to rip off some of the glued corks (because I forgot to test it first). Be sure to place the corks without glue first to make everything fits. After you lay them out and get them to fit, lay them down as seen below, so you know which ones to glue where.

• 

• 

• 

I cannot believe how great this looks.

 I really love the ombre look.

I am going to keep this wreath in our dining room for a while. I thought it would go on our wine cellar door but I want to be able to see it every day.

Items You Might Need

Three of my friends also made some wonderful Valentine’s Day Wreaths. 

Happy Happy Nester

My friend Janine at Happy Happy Nester also made a Valentine’s Day Wreath.

This Valentine’s Day Wreath couldn’t get any easier! Janine made a simple DIY heart-shaped design is lovely all year round.

Modern Glam Home

Ashley at Modern Glam Home made this adorable wreath. She made a finger-knitted heart wreath made with chunky yarn in under 20 minutes!

Finding Lovely

Jackie at Finding Lovely used fresh branches from her yard to make this heart-shaped wreath.

I hope you enjoyed my post. I really did name this my “quarantine wreath” as … um … well … we have enjoyed a bit of wine over the last ten months.

I couldn’t think of a better way to remember all of those intimate and fun family dinners so fondly.

Pin the image below to your decor or craft boards on Pinterest (just click the Pin button in the top left corner). You can also follow along with me on Pinterest!

For more real-time updates, follow me on Instagram @My100YearOldHome