Miniature Christmas Set Out of Wine Corks and Acorn Caps. DIY

The idea I'm going to share with you came to me unexpectedly and thanks to my daughter. She asked me to make some kind of Christmas dolls to decorate pine tree brunches which we put in a vase in her room every year on Christmas season.

Last year I made shiny acorns which turned out really nice and this time I also thought about acorns (I pick up lots of them in Fall), I wanted to paint faces on acorns. But then decided to use a wine cork as a body and put an acorn cap on it. Why not :) It was my challenge but when I started crafting and painting, I just couldn't stop :)

Actually, everything is easy as long as you can draw/paint free-hand.

Materials:

wine corks,

acorn caps,

knife,

sandpaper,

acrylic paints,

synthetic paint brushes,

awl,

super glue or hot glue or any strong glue you have at hand.

I made a video how-to where I show all steps of the process and show how I painted an easy miniature ornament - a dwarf.

Step 1: Cut a Top Part of a Wine Cork Like Shown:

Step 2: Make the Surface Smoother With a Sandpaper:

Instead of sandpaper you can use a nail file or a sharpener tool.

Step 3: Paint a Cork With White Acrylic:

I do it to hide the original cork color. Also after painting the cork white, it's easier to add your design.

On this step I use a flat synthetic paintbrush.

Step 4: Start Drawing Your Design:

I paint small details (face) with a synthetic paint brush 0 size, and use a flat paintbrush from the previous step for bold strokes (to paint a coat).

My idea was to create a fairy set of woodland creatures like dwarfs, woodland animals and little fairy houses. That is why my first ornament was a dwarf. But of course you can think of your own design, it's just a matter of taste.

I also made a penguin ornament which you can see on the cover pic or in the video, it's not a woodland creature of course :) This penguin was made as a little gift specially for my daughter's friend who simply adores and collects all kinds of birds.

Step 5: Make Two Holes in an Acorn Cap With an Awl:

Step 6: Insert a Thread and Glue a Cap to a Painted Cork:

I used white thick cotton thread for all my ornaments. But I guess silver thread/string would look even better and more festive.

Step 7: And You Are Done!

I painted stars on a dwarf's coat just recently, in the video the coat is clear blue. It takes time to paint small details but I think that's worth the effort.

For the present moment I have a complete set of my woodland fairytale ready.

Step 8: And Here Is the Whole Finished Set All Together:

A simple ornament like a dwarf (without stars on a coat) took me about an hour from the very start till the end of the process (gluing a cap). A more difficult ornament with small details (for example, fairy houses, an owl) took me 1 hour and a half - 2 hours to complete. But I got lots of pleasure from the process and my daughter is really happy to have such a unique set of Christmas ornaments.

I hope you enloyed this project and got some Christmas inspiration!

Thank you for stopping by and welcome to my Youtube channel to have a look at my other crafts and ideas.