When you have a stash of bubbly corks and it’s Christmas time, you make a cork garland.  

Let me premise this first by saying I am not crafty.  I like to think I am and I buy a lot of crafty stuff and it usually ends up in a giant craft fail.  

So, if I can complete a DIY cork garland project, I am confident you can too!

DIY Cork Garland, the perfect holiday decor

Cork Garland As Decor

I clearly chose bubbly cork garland because quite frankly those are the only corks I have.  And it would be strange if that wasn’t the case, wouldn’t it?

As I was picturing this to hang the stockings, I was also thinking this could make fun all year round decor by simply re-stringing it without the stockings.  So don’t be surprised if you see this bubbly cork garland appearing in pictures and videos all year round.  

Cork garland looks great in pics too!

Trial and Error

As I said, I am not very crafty, so when I first asked to borrow my brother-in-laws drill, I asked for the drill with the smallest drill bit.  Now, thankfully they know me better than this and gave me all of the drill bits, because it certainly wasn’t the smallest that worked.

My next mistake was thinking this would work with sewing thread, so I borrowed my sister’s sewing kit.  And while it worked, meaning the corks did thread through just fine, the first time I lifted the whole thing, it broke in half and I had corks all over the floor.  Who knew the corks were so heavy?  (Remember, not crafty…LOL)

And we may have re-strung these several times before we got it right.  And there may or may not have been a super glue incident on the wood floor.  

So like I said, if I can do this and have a quality end result, you can too!

Supplies

  • Glass of bubbly, of course you need this to get the project done! (Check out our recommendations.)
  • Bubbly corks (as many as you have)
  • Drill
  • 5/64 Drill bit
  • Fishing line or wire
  • Sewing needle
  • Super glue
  • Command hooks
  • Stockings (optional)

How to String The Cork Garland

Obviously through my trial and error, I also figured out how to drill through a cork.  And yes, that took a few tries to get it right.  I do try my best to show it in the video so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.  

The key to drilling through the cork is to hold the cork with your pointer finger and your thumb and that angle it slightly upward.  When you do this, it will drill straight through.  If you try to keep the cork straight up and down, you will surely have an uneven hole all the way through which then makes it slightly harder to string through with the needle.  And it doesn’t look as good either.  

Now that is probably the hardest part.  Well that and trying to thread the needle, although I will say with the fishing line that was a bit easier and I am guessing with wire it would be even easier.  

You can string as you go which is what I did in the video simply because it just seemed easier at the time, but this method only worked for a plain cork garland without stockings.  

So, if you are looking to use this to hang stockings like I did, then just drill a whole bunch of corks first.  

To string cork garland with stockings you want to lay out everything on a long table or counter top before stringing it.  We decided on 4 corks between every stocking, but one of the trial and errors we had was 3 corks between.  So, once we had 4 corks between every stocking we started to string it together.  

Now the last debate was to string through the knit handle of the stocking as well or just let the dangle and put the string and wire through the big loop and not actually through the knit part of the stocking.  We did it both ways and like the just letting the stockings hang better.  By the way, those mini stockings are from Target and I must give credit to my sister for Target hopping to secure all the letters!

DIY Cork garland

Ok, now you have a giant string of corks and stockings and are set.  The final step to keep this together is to put a dab of super glue on the outside hole of the very last cork and let it dry.  

Now, know that depending how you hang this cork garland, there’s not going to be a whole lot of space between them. So just keep this in mind as you’re putting that dab of super glue on.  I tried to make sure these were right up next to each other with no room to spare, but I still have about 2 inches between the last 2 corks.  So, something to just be aware of.  

Hanging your cork garland with the cork and Command Hooks.

Hanging Your Cork Garland

I was hopeful that I could hang this with packing tape or to somehow tie a not around a nail, but the packing tape was practically an instant fail and I had no nails nor could I knot the fishing line to try that method out.  

So, I bought some command hooks, the ones that hold 3 lbs quite frankly just because when the thread broke I realized it was heavier than I thought.  Now that gab I just mentioned between the last two corks actually came in handy to hang this.  And I am happy to say that it is nice and secure.  

Hiding the Bubbly Side of Life Spoon Game

Since this is my only decoration at Bubbly HQ, we decided to have some fun with it.  So every week, my nephews aka the Bubblyologists hide a spoon in one of the stockings and one day during the week, on Instagram stories, we show the stockings and tell you to start guessing which stocking the spoon is in.  The first person to guess correctly is the big winner

We’re giving away some fun prizes, so follow us @bubblysideoflife on Instagram and join in the fun!

Check back every where to guess which stocking the spoon is in!

When you have a stash of bubbly corks and it’s Christmas time, you make a cork garland. Let me premise this first by saying I am not crafty. I like to think I am and I buy a lot of crafty stuff and it usually ends up in a giant craft fail. So, if I can complete a DIY cork garland project, I am confident you can too! Learn how to DIY cork garland here! Share your cork creations in the comments!