creative jewish mom

How To Upcycle Liquor Bottles For DIY Holiday Projects

I just love all the shapes and sizes that are used in order to make liquor bottles special......and of course I love the bottle itself much more than the contents, not to worry! While a huge collection of liquor bottles wasn't something I've had previously, one on my sons just got married, and the bride's little brother, knowing of my recycling ways, collected a large number of bottles from the wedding. I immediately got to work removing labels, spouts, metal necks and bottle decor, and actually ended up using them all to make bottle candlestick holders. I have to say, there is some work required, but with the right info it can be done fairly easily and is so very worth it! Okay, lets learn how to upcycle liquor bottles for all the DIY projects of your dreams. Mine are currently adorning a few side boards and marching down my very long dining room table, and I'd gladly do it all over again!

How To Remove Labels From Glass Liquor Bottles, Wine Bottles And Jars

If you are like me, and you love DIY that especially makes use of recyclables, knowing how to remove labels from glass jars and bottles is imperative! After all, those amazing looking liquor bottles and great shaped jars and bottles of every kind can be used in so many ways, and it is such a shame to get bogged down by the label removal! After a recent family wedding one of the bride's little brothers collected a very lovely selection of alchohol bottles, and I just had to use them!  Check out my liquor bottle candlesticks, which I'm still enjoying marching down my dining room table! I'll admit, I put more effort into removing those labels than I needed too, as with the new info I'm sharing here label removal might not be quick, but it can be efficient! Okay, lets get started!

Recycled Liquor Bottle Candlestick Craft

It is true, I made these recycled liquor bottle candesticks for a Chanukah party that was held last night, but truthfully they are so universal they can be used for any festive occasion and any time that you want the look of candles without the safety concerns! And of course you could go for paper candles that are metallic silver or gold and maybe make the flame a bit less crafty looking and then even use them for a fancyish party outdoors where real candles wouldn't work, or for a feast in the forest where flames would be dangerous? And friends, whether or not you partake in liquor of any kind, there are certainly many ways to get your hands on some amazing bottles to recycle! These happen to be bottles from my son's wedding two weeks ago, and the 12 year old brother of the bride collected all the bottles for me having seen a previous craft project.....so sweet of him and glad I didn't listen to the husband who said we didn't have room in the trunk!

Now these candlestick bottles will make great decorations as well as centerpieces for our long shabbat table next week, I'm actually really excited to put "candles" on the table that I can then move when we clean up, on shabbat we don't light fire or touch it, so while I could make a long centerpiece with real lit candles it would be quite impractical and dangerous as the guests pass all those Moroccan salads around!

Okay, sold? Lets make some great looking recycled glass bottle candlesticks.......

Wine Bottle Vases Simplified For Your Fall Table

 

A while back I shared with you some lovely painted wine bottle vases, but guess what my friends? You really don't have to go through all that trouble of painting the bottles, especially for fall when dark wine bottles look just fine as they are! And let me tell you, painting those bottles was a bit tedious, not to mention toxic, so I'm so happy to share with you this super simple project!

I used paint markers in orange and yellow for a rustic fall look, though one could certainly use white or metallic colors for something more sophisticated or dare I say elegant?

You'll Need:

• wine bottles, labels removed, tutorial here
• paint pens
• a little creativity......be careful not to smear the pen as you're working and if you make a mistake you can probably wipe if off immediately, or just put that bottle in the recycling bin and start over!

 

 

Wine Bottle Vases Decoupaged With Tissue Paper

Remember those wine bottles that I spray painted white and made a bunch of DIY wine bottle vases? Remember that tissue paper that the kids stamped on to make our own DIY wrapping paper? Remember these DIY pom pom flowers? Well, isn't it nice to combine the efforts from several projects and come up with yet another? Here it is— painted wine bottles decoupaged with printed tissue paper. So sweet and the perfect look for a birthday party, baby shower or really any time to bring a little joy into your home. I've actually had these on our Shabbat table for a few weeks!

You'll Need:

• recycled wine and liquor bottles, spray painted with a primer, and then white
• printed/stamped tissue paper, more info here
• mod podge or a mixture of white glue and water
• a brush to apply the mod podge

How To: You can choose to cover the entire bottle with tissue paper, as we did with the polka dotted versions, or cut pieces of tissue paper and decoupage that as I did with the large circles. Either way, brush some mod podge or glue onto your bottle and carefully place the tissue paper on top, gently smoothing with the brush. It you want a very smooth surface I would recommend working with fairly small pieces, as tissue paper is difficult to work with because it's so thin. Set aside to dry and apply an additional coat of modpodge as a protective layer.

And by the way, if you don't feel like going through the trouble of painting the bottles, you can of course decoupage the tissue paper onto clear bottles for results that will look our tissue paper decoupage on glass jars. And if you're looking for something just a bit more sophisticated, check out my black and white wine bottle vases. That should be enough to get you rolling, right?

 

 

Draw Simple Patterns On Painted Bottles

Here's a super simple way to turn painted wine bottle vases (namely the ones I wrote about here) into something a little more bold and decorative. With just a permanent black marker, we had fun applying designs and illustrations to our painted bottles. And the results really are so much fun, and perfect for a casual summer party, or even something more sophisticated if you spend the time to draw with precision.

Have a favorite geometric pattern that you'd like to see in your home? Apply it to a bottle and enjoy! So much easier than covering a wall with something that you may just tire of sooner rather than later!

And it's always a great creative exercise to get kids (and yourself) to draw on something three-dimensional! So paint some bottles white, or any light color, and enjoy using them as canvases for some original art!

Wine Bottle Vases Embellished

Remember those wine and liquor and olive oil bottles that I spray painted white for the family wedding festivities and shared with you here? Well, there are so many white bottles hanging around our home now that I just had to start using them as canvases for a little creativity. After all, white bottles are nice, but sometimes something just a bit more colorful might be even better, don't you think? Take a look at these wine bottle vases embellished with a few findings from my stash: ric rack, zippers and ribbon! 

Now these bottles are ready for a fun party of sorts or to add a little cheer to your home just because! And if you happen to have some pom pom flowers hanging around, well they work perfectly with this whimsical look. And since you may be wondering about the ric rack rosette/flower, well it was a bit improvised and I ended up with way too much hot glue everywhere! The best technique is to start with a round piece of felt in the same color as your ric rack, and then starting at the middle wrap the ric rack around to form a flower. If you have a tiny glue gun that is surely preferable, or you may want to try using fabric glue. The pink pieces under the flower are zipper halves! Enjoy and stay tuned for some more fun bottle embellishments!

Painted Wine Bottle Vases

Collect a bunch of bottles and jars in all shapes and sizes and you can make lovely DIY centerpieces for any occassion! I sprayed a ton of bottles of all kinds (wine, olive oil, whiskey etc.) that I'd been saving for centerpieces and used them for a shabbat sheva brachas (festive meals for the seven days after a Jewish wedding) celebration. Everything was done so last minute that I didn't even have time to photograph my efforts! Because you see, the caterer came quite late which meant I couldn't set up the centerpieces until the tables were set up....whew talk about crafting stress!

So, the top photo is my attempt to capture the loveliness of this idea. In reality the jars and vases look better in groups of three, but for some unknown reason (uh duh, maybe because you're not a professional stylist?) I could not successfully capture this reality as the gorgeous photo of my dreams. Sorry about that.

And as far as groupings go, I'd suggest one jar to hold a casual bouquet, paired with two bottles in different sizes and heights to hold leaves or baby's breath. And little silver shot glasses or kiddush cups look great holding small sprigs of succulent for that added touch.

How To: Remove labels from jars and bottles and dry thoroughly. You'll need to spray many thin layers of paint to achieve good results. If you spray too close to the bottles or too much paint at one time, the paint will run leaving a surface with drips, which isn't the end of the world, but certainly not desirable.

Important Note: It is highly recommended to spray a coat of primer as your first coat to ensure that the paint will stick to the glass. I've got some chips here and there already and won't skip that step next time.

Soooooooo, do take my advice and be patient with this one. Spray from afar and a little at a time, outside of course and on a surface like a cardboard box. And do take note, you'll need lots of spray paint if you're going to do lots of bottles! I used gloss and matte, and I think I prefer the gloss. And now that I've got all these plain white bottles, I think it's time to decorate them don't you think? Stay tuned!