This wine cork heart wall hanging project is very special to me. It started out as a fun project to share on my blog and ended up reminding me of a very special time in my life.
It’s a perfect decoration to hang in February, as hearts are one of the main symbols of Valentine’s Day. It would even look cute hung up on the wall during for a Galentine’s Day party.
This wall hanging is a great project because it’s festive not only in February, but also during other times throughout the year. You can display it during the many national days in the year which celebrate wine.
If you want to learn more about these wine days, check out these posts on National Wine Day and National Prosecco Day.
Using wine corks in craft projects is a lot of fun, both for the drinking and the making part. If you like them too, see my wine cork pumpkin project here.
If you’re more interested in the drinking part than the crafting part, make sure to check out our post with the best wine temperatures for serving and storing red and white wine.
The project was done like I do all of my projects. I get an idea in my head, start crafting and it comes together (not always perfectly!) as I work. I’ve never been a person who cooks from recipes, works from directions or follows the rules.
I just like to let my creative side talk to me.
Sometimes, like today, I end up with a project that was going to be used just for my blog and readers but, instead, it ends up being something that I want to keep and display for years.
Note: Power tools, electricity, and other items used for this project can be dangerous unless used properly and with adequate precautions, including safety protection. Please use extreme caution when using power tools and electricity. Always wear protective equipment, and learn to use your tools before you start any project.
Let’s make the wine cork heart wall hanging
To make this wine cork heart wall hanging, you will need the following supplies.
- 70 wine corks (we love wine and I have been saving them for a while!)
- Pink satin ribbon 1 1/4″ wide
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks – hot glue can burn, use caution.
- 2 floral picks with pink flowers and presents on them (I got mine at Michael’s, but you could use velvet material and ribbon and make them. Mine were about 1 1/2″)
- Saw tooth hanger
- 1 10 x 12″ piece of plywood
- Pattern (see below)
- Jigsaw
I wanted to use pink ribbons and flowers for this project because I knew I’d hang it during Valentine’s Day, and pink is one of the most popular Valentine’s Day colors.
My husband used his Jigsaw to cut me one plywood heart about 10″ x 12″ from a piece of 1/4″ plywood and this pattern. You can print it out here.
Once the heart is cut out, sand it and it’s time to work with the corks. One thing I discovered is that not all corks are the same length, but they need to be for this project to look right when it is done.
My Cutco paring knife worked perfectly to trim a tiny bit off the long ones and to tidy up the holes and bits of cork from the used ones.
Start on the bottom edge and glue the corks to the first four rows. This gives you the shape that the plywood heart will take as it gets covered with corks.
Hot glue 1 cork, then 2, then 3 and then 4. Row 4 will have a couple of spaces but they will get filled later.
Once you have the bottom done, work in pairs, hot gluing two corks together until they hold well, and then position them on the plywood next to the row under it.
I worked on one side and then the other to try and keep the shape uniform.
Continue hot gluing the cork pairs until you get to the places where the heart starts to curve about 1/4 way down and just at the top.
At these points you will need to glue an extra cork to allow your cork pairs to go in the right direction on the next row.
Finish with 2 corks and then 1 cork for the last few rows. You will end up with this wine cork heart shape.
Attach a metal saw tooth hanger to the back of the heart shape for hanging.
Separate the floral picks to give you two presents and two small bunches of pink flowers.
Hot glue the presents in the middle of each side, and hot glue the flowers at the bottom on row four where you will have a couple of spaces. 
To make the bow for the wine cork heart wall hanging, cut the pink ribbon into these lengths:
- 12″
- 8″
- 2 x 5″
- 1 x 2″
Using hot glue form the bow and add a dab of glue to hold it. Make one 6″ loop, and lay over one 4″ loop and glue them. Wrap the piece of 2″ ribbon over both loops, and tack it at the back with glue.
Tack the two 5″ pieces and cut a V shape on the end of them. Hot glue the bow to the top of the heart over the second row of corks.
Ta Da!! The finished wine cork heart wall hanging is ready to display and this is where the special part comes into play.
My story. When my daughter was 3 years old we moved from Australia (where we had lived for a while) back to the United States. For our anniversary, my husband gave me a lovely card with a message that said “This little girls looks so much like the product of our love.”
It was the most amazing resemblance to Jess. The little girl was wearing a straw hat (Jess loved hats when she was little) and holding a long stemmed rose. I loved the photo and the sentiment.
I asked where he found the card and we went to the store and bought another one that matched. I added mats and framed them and have had them hanging in our family room ever since.
Many greeting cards and Christmas cards contain roses, but these were so special because the little girl looked just like Jess!
When I was looking for a place to display my cork heart, I looked all around my dining room and at the entry to my den. It didn’t look right in any place that I tried for the photo that I wanted to take of it.
But then, I walked to the den and saw my lovely “Jess” photos and my heart melted. The colors in the photos were so close to the colors that this project ended up with.
The red wine on the corks matched the picture frames and the pink bow and presents matched the little girl’s hat. So, up the wine cork heart wall hanging went and it looks perfect.
Can you see why this ended up being such a special project for me? I had not thought of the actual card in years. I just saw them as photos over time. But making this project took me right back to that day and makes it a project that I will treasure for years.
For more Valentine’s day projects, be sure to visit my Pinterest Valentine’s Day board.