Do Your Own: Painted Cork Filler

I am in love with this squirrel bowl that Jeremy got me.  Since its arrival at Cecilia it has held pine cones, fake fruit, ornaments and even real nuts (until the doggies realized there was food inside those hard walnut shells).  For the spring I wanted something colorful and non-edible and easy to put together.  I have half a million wine corks left over from our cork board wall project so I figured I could put a handful of them to good use.  To mix things up, I ordered a pack of wooden acorns to add to the corks and got to painting.

I always keep a variety of neutral and primary colors of craft paint on hand, and like to mix my own colors out of those basics.  I used grays, off whites, deep reds and mint greens to match the color palette of the kitchen and living room, and added a nice metallic copper for a bit of pop.

I initially intended to be incredibly clever and professional-like and used painters tape to make clean lines...which lasted for 2 corks.  After that a just free styled it-- much easier.  They are corks, after all, and there isn't much chance of anyone analyzing each one to see if my lines are even.

The finished doo-dads went into the bowl.  A nice pop of color with a toy-like effect and completely unappealing to our dogs-- which is always a plus.  I think they'll make great vase filler when I've moved on to another squirrel bowl idea.  

Have you done any quick & easy DIYs lately?