Welcome to my very first "Instructable" !

Corks, corks and more corks!

There is always something new to make if you, like me, have a big collection of random corks lying around. Since Christmas was around the corner, it had to be something "Christmasy". :)

Because I was planning to make quite few of these cork Santas to put on our tree, I decided to keep it simple. Feel free to add your own touch and extra details. Would love to see what you come up with!

Thank you in advanced for checking my "Instructable"! I hope it is easy to follow and clear.

Enjoy!

Step 1: Steps Overview

Things you need
Eyes and clothes
Holes for the nose, hat and arms
Adding the nose and beard
Adding the arms
Hat (part 1) : Roll paper + snap swab
Hat (part 2) : Measure + mark + cut
Hat (part 3) : Color hat + add string
DONE! :)

Step 2: Things You Need

Tools:

Scissors
Red marker
Black marker
Pointed tip screwdriver (or any tool you can use to make holes in the cork)
Sellotape

Materials:

1 Champagne cork
2 Long plastic pins (arms)*
1 Round plastic pin (nose)
1 Wooden cotton swab
1 Piece of cotton
1 Piece of paper (around the size of a post-it note)**
1 String of your choice

* You can use a cotton swab cut in half for the arms, I just had these plastic pins around so decided to use it instead.

** I used normal white paper for the hat, which I colored later in red. Feel free to use already red colored glossy paper if you have any to skip a couple of steps.

Step 3: Eyes and Clothes

Start by coloring in the eyes and clothes. Two black dots for the eyes did the job :)

I was going to start adding more buttons above the belt but then realized that it will be covered with the beard anyway so I stopped after the first one.

Step 4: Holes for the Nose, Hat and Arms

Make the holes using the pointed tip screwdriver.

Depending on what you will end up using for the nose and arm, you might want to twist the screwdriver around a bit to make the hole bigger (but not too big).

Step 5: Adding the Nose and Beard

For the arms and nose I ended up using plastic pins from old toys I came across in the house. I colored the white pins in red and black for the arms. The round pin for the nose was already red so it was ready as it is.

You could use a cotton swab split in half for the arms instead.

Hold the piece of cotton just under the nose hole, and insert the nose pin making sure it drags a bit of the cotton with it to hold it in place. Groom and trim the beard to your liking! :)

Step 6: Adding the Arms

Put the arms in the holes on both sides... easy-peasy...! :)

Step 7: Hat (part 1): Roll Paper + Snap Swab

As I mentioned in the "things you need" section, I use here plain white paper which I will color in red later. If you have red colored paper it will save you a bit of time if you are planning to make quite few Santas!

Roll the piece of paper into a cone. It helps to have a small piece of sellotape prepared to hold the paper together after you role it.

Snap one end of the swab and try to see if the long part fits inside the hole on the tip of the cone. If the the hole is too small just take off small part of the tip with the scissors. You want to have just the cotton part of the swab out of the cone.

Step 8: Hat (Part 2): Measure + Mark + Cut

Now that we made sure the swab fits inside the cone, place it next to the cone just like in the picture above to put mark where to cut the cone.

Make sure to add the mark at least 1cm away from the bottom edge of the swab. That extra length will be going into the hole on the top of the cork to hold the hat in place.

Step 9: Hat (Part 3): Color Hat + Add String

After cutting the paper cone, I colored it in red.

To give it an extra glossy look and to hold the paper together better, I added a layer of sellotape around the cone.

Tie your string of choice to the top of the swab then insert the swab inside the cone, and into place in the hole on the top of the cork.

Step 10: Done! :)

And we are done! now you can hang it on your Christmas tree or just have it sitting on a shelf somewhere in the house!

I hope you enjoyed my Instructable as simple as it was. I thought it was good one to practice writing my first instructable on, hope to share more of my DIY projects in the future.

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Wish you a great holiday and brilliant new year!