craft Archives - Page 2 of 2

After making Chicken Caesar Sandwiches, I have empty glass salad dressing bottles that are the perfect size for a small vase. I generally recycle the bottles, but this time I decided to upcycle and turn it into something new. Make an upcycled vase from an empty bottle I used the empty, clean bottle to make one of the wrapped vases that I’ve seen floating around on Pinterest. This project was easy and fun – and turned out so cute!

Before – turn twine and an empty bottle into a vase.

Making an upcycled vase is so simple. It takes just a few materials: the bottle, some twine or yarn, and glue.

My upcycled vase was free since I used twine that I already had on hand, along with regular school glue to attach it. You probably have all these items on hand as well. Don’t you love it when you get lovely things for free?!

Before getting started, I wondered if regular glue would hold the twine, or if I would have to break out the hot glue gun. When I peeled off the dressing label, its leftover adhesive helped hold the twine in place as I wrapped it around the bottle. No hot glue gun was necessary – the school glue did the job.

The twine wrapping went quickly until I got to the bottle neck. It didn’t stay in place as easily on around the curve of the bottle, but it smoothed out as I added more layers and pushed the twine down.

At the top I glued down the cut end of the twine and held it in place until it adhered. For the final touch, I added a simple ribbon bow, then found some flowers for display.

I love how my little upcycled vase craft project turned out! Now I need to finish off some additional bottles to make more!

This project is linked at some of these link parties.

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Over the holidays, I found myself in need of a few last-minute gifts. Can you relate?

I wanted to give something with a personalized touch, but I was on a budget. Since most people like candles, I decided on monogrammed candle holders. It was a fast, easy, and inexpensive project for some cute gifts.

I found candles with a light, pleasant scent (fresh linen) at the dollar store, along with the glass holders, making these gifts just $2 each.

I already had the letter stencils, paint sponges, and DecoArt Glamour Dust glitter paint on hand, but those supplies are inexpensive as well. The glitter paint was about $2 and the letter stencils were $3.99 at Hobby Lobby. I’ve used them for several craft projects.

Monogrammed candle supplies

For some of the letters, I just held on the stencils with one hand while painting with the other hand. Other letters had two pieces, like the “D” in the picture below. I taped those stencils to the glass to keep them in place while I painted the monogram on the candle holders.

Monogrammed candle paint

The glitter paint dries lighter than it looks when wet, so I put on several coats. You can also put the glitter paint over a similar solid color for a darker result.

The paint dries quickly to the touch, so you can apply multiple coats in a short time, but it requires 24 hours to fully cure. That makes it easy to fix any “oops” spots as needed before the paint cures. The candle holders were a fun project, and make a great little gift for a neighbor, hostess, teacher, etc. I liked them so much, I made one for myself, too!