A Corking Good Time Crafting

4"x6" 'cork' trivet

cardboard and cork wreath

cork wreath hanging on door

Recently, I came across a box-load of wine corks that had been accumulating in my basement for years. I just don't like to throw things out but watching those Hoarder shows on TV has had an effect on me and I've become more serious about throwing things out. Or, in this case, getting a bit creative with some of the old rubbish lying around.  I sorted the corks by type, that is, whether they were real cork or that new plasticky-cork stuff that you find.  I used these plasticky ones to make a hot plate trivet. I arranged them in some semblance of order and just glued 'em together with some clear transparent super sticky type glue that I found in a tube in a drawer in the kitchen. Yes, I'm dehoarding kitchen drawers too!  Then I sorted all the real cork corks and found a lot of them had lovely little pictures or numbers or words or letters on them.  After finding a wreath-shaped piece of cardboard (yes, I'd saved that too and it was up for either the trash, re-cycling or crafting!) which I painted red with some, you guessed it, left-over craft paint I found in another drawer. I used red paint as it was the only little paint can that was still wet enough to use! Once the paint dried on the cardboard I started to arrange the corks around the wreath, first a lower level and then adding other ones on top, in a sort of higgledy-piggledy design.  I should say here that I went out on the Internet first and searched "What To Do With Old Corks?" and found numerous websites where people had pictures and descriptions of making stuff with old wine corks. So, suitably inspired by their ingenuity, I made a wreath and hot plate rest meself and feel quite satisfied with the final results.  I've already had some compliments from house guests about them, including questions. One asked about "how long it took to accumulate all those corks?" from my brother who is clearly checking up on me to see if I'm a wino or not.  The answer is "about 10 years of tippling," which seemed to disappoint him somewhat.  Another person asked "if the corks smelled?" which was an unexpected question.  The answer is "no as all the corks were quite old and dry when I used them." So, I will use these items for as long as I like and then I can either trash, re-cycle or upcycle them again whenever.  These items really didn't take long to make nor were they too complicated to put together as I had everything at hand somewhere ('hoarded'). And I do take pleasure in keeping things out of the landfill as much as possible though, don't you too?

No Longer Eligible for A&E #Hoarders

Hoard for Removal

De-hoarded garage space

Today I went out to the garage to get the Christmas decorations but, inspired by A&E cable TV channel's program called Hoarders, I found myself clearing out a small hoard of papers, tools, coiled wired, old lamps, books, a chair, a table and a wheelchair. We bagged it all up and then put it out in the alley for a Bulk Trash Pickup which I signed up for online right away to avoid getting a Trash Ticket from the City Trash Ticket Lady.  I did relate to the people on the TV show a little as I found myself saying "I don't want to give this up" about a couple of the items such as my son's baby things or a school paper I'd written years ago. Mostly, however, I found myself saying "Why do I still have my ex-husband's rusted tools?" and "Why am I keeping this bag of nails?" After all, if I'd needed them or he wanted them back, in the twelve years we've been divorced, they would have been used! So feeling very pleased with meself, I then went in to photograph the cleared space. A sleepy little field mouse, looking very large and pregnant, was making her way out from the leftover rubble and dust, and I'm sorry to say, I picked up the baseball bat and whacked her dead. Well, it's not as if mice are an endangered species, now, is it? So with a little clean up -- which took about two hours -- I've gotten rid of some of my hoard. Now, I'm thinking about what else to tackle. Fortunately, I don't have an attic, but the basement and some of the closets could do with some serious garbage bag de-hoarding, so once I get some Hefties, maybe I'll tackle those. Purging is good!