Summer Sangria

 Sangria is a great summer drink because it's cool, and full of fruity goodness. It tricks you into drinking some fruit with wine . I didn't always like wine, I starting drinking it in Culinary School with my roommates L and S who loved wine, it took awhile but I sure do love it now.  Of course we bought "value" wine, you know the giant jugs of wine that cost about $7. The way I buy wine is very interesting, I don't buy bottom shelf, but I don't buy top shelf either. And YES labels do sway my decision a bit- I do know what type of wine I like Cab, Merlot and sometimes a Carmenere.
For sangria I used some Merlot and yes the label drew me in- it's a giraffe it's so silly everyone knows giraffes don't drink wine!

I went a little crazy cutting fruit!

Summer Sangria:
1 bottle of red wine
1 Orange sliced
1 lemon sliced
10-12 strawberries-stemmed and sliced
8oz diced pineapple pieces  w/juice
12oz Ginger ale


Here is the tricky part- in a large pitcher throw in orange,lemon, strawberries, pineapple. wait for it.... add wine and ginger ale! Put in the refrigerator. This makes about a full pitcher, make sure to let sit overnight or longer. The longer it sits the better it is! If you are making this for a party I recommend making a few pitchers- it goes fast!

If you have any leftover fruit and no more wine it makes yummy fruit water. It's a refreshing drink, just add the remaining fruit to another pitcher and add water- Chill over night!

Wine cork board

 I drink wine, and as most of you know I like to collect useless crap in hopes of doing great things with it. I have started collecting wine corks, and getting  friends to save them for me too. My plan is to make a wine cork board for my kitchen, then onto trivets, and then who knows what.

design #1

Yesterday at the thrift store I found the jackpot of all jackpots! A huge bag full of corks. I know what you are thinking. I didn't drink all that wine, but lets be real I wasn't going to get out without becoming a wino. I was thinking it was going to take at least a year to gather up all the corks, lucky for me I have a lot of friends who drink wine.
 Nowadays buying a bottle of wine will not guarantee you a cork- I read someplace it's something of 9% of wine bottles are closed with  plastic stoppers or even screw tops. Now this messes with my project, the look of plastic "corks" are just not the same.
 I found a frame at goodwill for $2.99 it's Medium sized. I could have done a huge one but really don't have the patience for one that big.

you will need:
25-200 corks depends on the size of frame and design
picture frame without the glass
glue gun with glue sticks
newspaper

design #2

I have been researching designs, so many possibilities. No idea how many times I have placed the corks in the frame, just to take them all out again. With the timeless saying "measure twice, cut once" repeating in the back of my head.  In this case "place twice, glue once!" I have it down to 2 designs. Design 1 is with the corks lying on the sides with labels showing, this way it uses up less cork. Design 2 is with the corks standing up showing the wine stain, this adds some character. But uses up 3-4x more corks then the first one.  Right after taking the photos my little walking disaster decided to help me and picked up the frame. Corks all over my living room, a toddler's dream!
 I have yet to decide what design to do. So please let me know which design you like better in the comment section. I am still waiting to glue. I will update once I decide on a pattern, and show the finished product.