Beaded Wine Glass Charms

With a few beads, some memory wire and glue, you can make these simple beaded wine glass charms.  I made a lot of these for the wedding and got a lot of complements on them.

What you need:
- Memory Wire
- Seed beads (really small ones for ends)
- other beads for decorations (optional)
- bead glue (I use G S Hypo Cement)
- wire cutters (be warned that the memory wire does damage cutters, so maybe buy some cheap ones that you would use only for this application... at least, that's what I did).

Before you start, you should have a design in mind.  Remember that wine charms should be different from each other so people can use them to know which wine glass is theirs.

Okay so here's what you do:

1.  Cut the memory wire so that you almost complete a circle, minus a quarter inch or so.

2.  Put a small amount of glue to the end of one wire and put a seed bead. Do this to only one end of the wire. The glue should hold the seed bead in place at the end.  Lay the wire and seed bead down to let the glue set (ten or so minutes, I think.  Just check if it appears set.  Full drying time is more like an hour).  In the mean time, you can glue down more seed beads to memory wires.

3.  Once dry, you can put the other beads on as the design you would like.  I like making a big bead the focal point, and the small beads for added color variation.

4.  Time to close it up.  While holding the beads away from the open side of the wire, apply a small amount of glue to the open end of wire and put a seed bead.  Again, put it aside, and let the glue dry (about an hour for full dryness).

5.  Once the glue dries, you have your wine glass charm.  You should now be able to attach it to the stem of a wine glass.

(optional:  you can go back and add a drop of glue at both ends of the wire to give it a little more strength)

Wine Glass Coasters

September is National Sewing Month.  For the last day of the month, I thought I should post a sewing project.  (just barely made it -- Thank goodness I'm in PST) So here goes.

These are sewn wine glass coasters.  This is a perfect project for some coordinating fat quarters.

Materials:
- fabric square (8"x 8")  (This worked for all but one of my wine glasses - for that one, I could have used a 9"x9" square).

Here's how to make them:

1.  Fold the diagonal with the wrong side out.
2.  Sew mostly around the diagonal, leaving a small opening in the middle of one of the sides.  (I find it makes a more perfect straight edge when your opening is in the middle.
3.  Turn it inside out (or right-side out), using a pen or a dowel of some sort to make crisp corners.
4.  Iron the triangular piece.
5.  Sew a line along the long diagonal edge.
6.  Fold the 2 corners up to make a square.  If necessary, you can iron it down like this.
7.  Sew around the square.

That's it.  Your coaster is complete.  Remember to make coordinating fat quarters in a set, rather than the same fabric.  That way, it can work as a marker too (so you know which wine glass is yours).

 

White Wine Sangria

This is a nice drink to enjoy on a warm summer evening.  I've tried white wine sangria before, tho this is the first time I decided to try making my own.  Strangely, I've never liked the white wine sangria's that I've tasted in the past.  And I never understood why, because I do like some white wines, and I do like fruit... so what the heck!  Anyway, I decided to make my own, with things I liked. So, I used a white wine that I like and fruits that I liked.  Turns out, I do like white wine sangria.  :)

Here's the recipe:

2 lbs cut up fruits (I chose: white peaches, tangerine, and strawberries.  You can choose pretty much whatever you want.)
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup triple sec
1 bottle of dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc.  You can choose what you like).

How to make the sangria.

1.  In a pitcher, add the fruits, and mix in the sugar, pressing on the fruit lightly.
2.  Add triple sec and mix.
3.  Wait 15 minutes
4.  Add white wine, and refrigerate from a few hours to a day.
5.  Enjoy!