I have a jar of wine and champagne corks in my craft cupboard waiting for a repurposed wine cork craft. I thought I might eventually upcycle them into something useful such as a notice board or trivet. Instead, I’ve ended up having fun with them, with this Halloween kids craft.
A lot more corks would have been needed for a notice board. However, I’m more of a beer drinker than a wine drinker, so it would have taken me a while to collect them. I only used nine with this wine cork craft.
Collecting wine corks for upcycling is not just a simple case of drinking more wine. Many bottles of wine these days have a screw top or even plastic corks.
The declining use of wine corks was evident to me when I visited my parents in Portugal this summer. Portugal is the large harvester of cork in the world and it is a very important industry for the country.
Over the last few years to maintain their cork production the Portuguese have found other uses for cork besides as a wine stopper. In the town where my parents live, there were many shops selling a range of goods made from cork. Such as cork bags, hats, and shoes to coasters and table mats.

The Halloween Wine Cork Craft
I have upcycled wine bottles into Halloween lights before, this time I focused on the corks.
It was fun creating this rogues gallery of Halloween figures from a mixture of upcycled wine corks and Champagne corks. They look like a rightly motley band of Halloween villains. I think they are more on the cute side of Halloween rather than spooky.
The Halloween wine cork gang was first designed on paper. Then the designs translated onto the corks using a mixture of paint and sharpies. You can use my array of Halloween characters or even design some of your own.
My collection included Frankenstein, a ghost, pumpkin head skeleton, skeleton nightmare, skull, mummy, Dracula, bat, and Jack O’lantern. I strung them all together to make a fun Halloween wine cork garland.

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What You Need
- A mixture of wine and champagne corks. If you don’t have your own collection of old wine corks for upcycling, many craft shops sell them for crafting with.
- White paint – I just used some white latex paint I had leftover from decorating.
- Eyelet screws
- Sharpies in Halloween colours of black, orange and green or paint in those colours.
- Orange twine
- Old bandage or strip of muslin cloth
- Craft felt in black and red.

The Halloween Wine Cork Crafts
Before, starting the Halloween figures, screw an eyelet into the top of each cork. Then using string dip them in diluted white paint and hang them out to dry. It is easier to draw on the corks if they are white. Also, the paint helps seal the corks which makes them easier to decorate.


1. The Ghost Wine Cork
This is the simplest of the decorated wine cork crafts. All you need to do is do draw a ghost face onto the painted cork with a black sharpie.
I’ve made paper Halloween ghost treat bags in the past which are also super cute.

2. The Mummy
This Halloween cork is based on the classic Egyptian mummy. It’s basically an upgrade of the Ghost above with the addition of bandages.
Make a Ghost wine cork and then cut a bandage into small strips and wrap it around the cork. Make sure the eyes are still visible.


3. Frankenstiens Monster
For this wine cork craft, colour the whole cork in green with a sharpie or paint. Then draw on the hair and face details with a black sharpie.
To give Franenstiens monster the finishing touch add to small screws to side of the cork.

4. Pumpkin Head Champagne Cork
For this upcycled Halloween craft I used a Champagne cork instead of a wine cork. The top of the head was painted orange. Then, a Jack O’Lantern face drawn on in black sharpie.
The body of the cork was coloured with a black sharpie. Then, skeleton ribs were added using white paint.

5. Skull Champagne Cork
Another upcycled Champagne cork, this time into a skull. All you need is a black sharpie to draw the skull face onto a white painted Champagne cork.

6. Nightmare Skeleton
This skeleton champagne cork was inspired by the spooky Tim Burton film The Nightmare Before Christmas. All you need for this cork craft is a black sharpie and white paint.

7. Jack O’Lantern
All you need for this champagne cork figure is orange paint (or sharpie) and a black sharpie for the face.
Jack O’Lanterns are a classic Halloween character, last year I made an upcycled illuminated Jack O’Lantern, from an old chopping board.

8. Dracular
Another classic spooky character. As well as colouring the Champagne cork with sharpies, I made it a red cape out of felt.

9. Bat Wine Cork
Bats are associated with Halloween probably due to their links with Vampires. The bat wings and ears were made from craft felt.
There are some great vintage bat images on Pictureboxblue.


I think that the whole collection of wine cork crafted figures are an interesting array of spooky characters. If you put orange twine through the eyelets and they can then be hung as a Halloween garland.

There are a few wine corks left in the jar to craft with. Perhaps I could make some more Halloween characters to add to the collection, such as witches and wizards like my Halloween Gnomes.


There are more Halloween crafts on allfreeholidaycrafts.
NINA LEWIS
Oh how I love those little guys!!! I want to make a whole flock of them.
‘m going to feature this at our Party in Your PJs tomorrow night. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful idea!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much for the feature. They were fun to make and I’m trying to think of more characters.
kristie
Terrific job, Claire! you are one of my features on the Little Cottage Link Party!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, that’s awesome I look forward to seeing it.
Cecilia
These are adorable, Claire! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much.
Peter DIYPD
It is always nice when you making something from nothing. Especially this lalloween cork craft I bet is a lot of fun for the kids.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, that’s my favourtie kind of craft-making things with the stuff you already have.
Donna Williams
Freaking. Adorable! They are all so quirky in their own right, like their little personalities rise to the top. Super cool repurpose, Claire!
I’ve featured this project in this weekend’s DIY Salvaged Junk Projects 544. Thanks for linking up!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, Donna, they were fun to make and I’m trying to think of more Characters to add.
Marielle
These are super cute! What a great idea. I love Frankenstein! Thanks for sharing. I’m visiting today from the Party in Your PJs link up. Have a great day!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much, Frankenstein and the mummy are my favourite.
Donna @ Modern on Monticello
This looks like you had a lot of fun making them. They are adorable! So glad you shared them with us this week at #HomeMattersParty
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, they were fun to make.
Michelle Leslie
You know everytime I thoughts I’d found a favorite, the next one popped up on my screen and the next and they all made me smile. We’re both beer drinkers too so wine corks are few and far between. But we do have loads of friends who may just give us a few. Maybe??? As long they don’t see this cute idea 😉
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, I’m a beer drinker too but lucky for me the family are wine drinkers so save their corks for me.
angie
what a fun idea… these are all adorable and will be fun for my grandkids to make thanks for sharing
come see us at http://shopannies.blogspot.com
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much, they will have fun making them.
Julie
Awh, these are brilliant! What fun!
I gave my cork collection to a friend for her son’s wedding (they were doing something crafty with them) but I’m starting to collect them again now so maybe next year?!!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, Julie. There is something about corks, I can’t throw them away so just pop them in a jar for a rainy day.
Creatively Beth
I always create sketches for my projects first, too! Dipping the corks in the paint is a BRILLIANT tip, Claire! I’d love for you to share your projects with us weekly over at our Creative Linky Party https://creativelybeth.com/creative-crafts-linky-party-5-join-in-the-fun/
Have a great weekend!
Creatively, Beth
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much. The paint dipping did make the corks much easier to decorate. Thanks for the invite too!
Lisa Cestkowski
These are adorable!! My favorite is Frankenstein, but they’re all great!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, yes the Frankenstein worked out well. I do like the mummy too.
Elena Wiggins
These are so creative and fun! And I love that they upcycle something you already have in your home.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, that’s my favourite kind of craft upcycling something I already have.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, that’s my favourite kind of craft, upcycling stuff I already have.