Recycled Crafts

DIY Upcycle Lighted Santa Bottles

This handmade Santa light-up bottle adds a warm and cozy feeling to any space for the Christmas season. This project requires a recycled bottle and drilling a hole in the lower backside of the bottle. Also required is a fun search for a Santa image. The choices are endless, ranging from recycled Christmas cards, magazines, printed images, and the imagination goes on. Most importantly don’t forget a strand of Christmas lights. Now let’s get started and enjoy the fun.

Materials for drilling a hole in glass

Drill
Drill Bit
Safety Glasses
• Facemask
Spray Bottle With Water

Directions

Drill a hole in the bottle. Through my research I found that using a 1/2 inch hole saw diamond grit drill bit works best for drilling a hole in a bottle. You can find this type of drill bit in most hardware stores and online.

Safety first: Wear safety glasses and a facemask to prevent eye injury and inhaling glass dust.
Starting on the backside and lower end of the bottle place the drill bit at an angle. This will allow you to start a groove in the bottle. Once you have the groove started you will begin to slowly bring the drill to an upright position. Apply pressure but not too much as this will cause the bottle to break. Periodically stop drilling and spray the drill bit and bottle where you are drilling the hole to keep the drill bit and bottle cooled off. This also keeps the glass dust level down while you are drilling.

Tip: I have also seen websites online where you can purchase predrilled bottles from suppliers.

Materials for Santa bottle

Empty Bottle (most types of bottles will work for this project)
Cork (optional)
Strand of Christmas Lights (20-30 bulb strand with a one-ended plug)
Santa Image (of your choice)
Raffia
Christmas Bells (two)
Glue
Water
Paintbrush

Removing labels from the bottle. Soak bottle in warm soapy water until the label is saturated with water. Use a putty scraper or a scraper with a razor blade on the end. Once the bottle is clean allow it to dry.

Tip: If the inside of the bottle has any residue from the drilling process you can tear off a small piece of a cleaning cloth and swish it around with the water in the bottle and that will help to rid of it.

Apply the Santa image. I prefer to make a mixture of Elmers glue and ¼ water. If the image is on thick paper this mixture will work well. If the image is on a thinner paper use a thicker consistency of glue (less water). Note: Other types of glue or Mod Podge products will work. Check your local craft stores to see what products they carry.

Measure the Santa image up to the bottle to insure the placement of the image will be where you want it. Using your paintbrush brush glue on the area where the image will be placed. Starting from the center of the image place your image on the bottle and gently glide your fingers from the center to outer edges of the image. Once you have the image glued down brush some more glue over the top of the image. Start this from the center working your way out as well. If any bubbles occur on the image you can smooth them out with your fingers from center to outer edges. Allow image to dry. Note: Once dry you can add glitter or a coat of crafting varnish on the Santa image.

Wrap raffia around neck of the bottle. Two or three strands of raffia will cover the neck of this size bottle. More strands may be required if your bottle is taller. Start by tying one end of the raffia around the neck of the bottle leaving a little excess on one end to tie off in the end of the wrapping process. Begin wrapping it fairly tight around the neck of the bottle. If your strand starts to run out tie the next strand to the one you started with and keep going until you have covered the neck of the bottle. Now tie off with the excess. Note: Twine, yarn, or ribbon can be used in place of the raffia.

Tying on the Christmas bells. Using another strand of raffia, tie the raffia around the top of the bottles neck, leaving a generous amount on both ends so that you can tie one bell on each end.

Place a cork in the top of the bottle. (Optional)
Inserting the strand of Christmas lights. Turn the bottle upside down to insert lights (this helps the light strand to flow more evenly throughout the bottle). Starting from the bulb end of the light strand insert each bulb individually into the bottle. Once you have your strand of lights in it is time to plug in and enjoy.

50 Plus Awesome Sharpie Projects to Make

by Johnnie Collier

It amazes me that I have yet to curate my favorite Sharpie projects! With all of the 50+ round-ups I have brought to you, seems like I would have covered this by now. You will be blown away at the beautiful DIY home decor projects you can make with these popular markers, and there are loads of handmade gift ideas just in time for the holidays.

DIY Wood Pallet Hanging Planters

by Johnnie Collier

Wood Pallet Project Kreg Jig K4 Pocket Hole System

I love decorating with mums in the fall, and it is well know that I am a wood pallet upcycling kind of DIY blogger. Today’s project combines the two for some easy, inexpensive wood pallet hanging planters. This is a great way to use up your scrap wood, and is a perfect project for those new to woodworking since it doesn’t require any fancy techniques. The metal chain and hardware with the wood give these planters a rustic, industrial feel that I adore. Let’s get started!

Cut List

4 – 2×2 pieces 6 inches long for the side posts

8 – 1×3 pieces 8 inches long for the side panels

1 – 1×6 piece 1o inches long for the bottom (this doesn’t have to be exact – you can use whatever scrap wood you have on hand to make the bottom)

Materials

Metal chain and eye screws

Kreg screws 1 inch and 1.25 inches

Wood Glue

Kreg jig

Instructions

I made my planter to fit the plants I had on hand. You can adjust the size to fit your plant.

*I always use wood glue!

Begin by assembling the side panels with two pocket holes (I show you how to use the Kreg Jig here). Set the depth of the jig to match with thickness of your pallet wood. My pieces were 1×3 (which is really .75 inches thick) so I set the depth to 0.75 inches. Use 2 – 1.25 inch screws to connect the sides. Drill pocket holes one both sides of each side panel for attaching to 2×2 posts later.

Next, attach the four posts to 2 of the side panels as shown. I made the posts by cutting 2×4 to 6 inch pieces, then ripping those in half, all with my mitre saw.

Attach the bottom piece to the remaining 2 side panels with 2 pocket holes in each end. Knowing what size kreg screw to use can be a process of elimination, but a general way to gauge pretty closely is to add the widths of the two pieces you are attaching and subtracting 0.25 from that to get your screw length. So in this case 0.75 for the bottom piece + 0.75 for the side panel thickness – 0.25 equals 1.25 inch screws.

Finish the planter using the side panel pocket holes you drilled for the side post to attach the three pieces you assembled.

Add eye screws into the 4 posts for chain and enjoy!

Gelli Printing DIY Fall Art

by Johnnie Collier

A creative friend introduced me to gelli printing, and I am hooked. I think you will be too! Today I will show you how to use leaves from your yard and die cut leaves to create beautiful one of a kind fall art prints. Use gelli printing for your art journal and mixed media backgrounds, for handmade greeting cards or frame them for instant art!

MATERIALS

Gelli Printing Plate; I purchase this 8×10 inch plate (*this is my Amazon affiliate link)

Brayer

Acrylic Paints in fall reds, oranges and yellows; I used DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics

White Card Stock 8.5 x 11 inches

Rubber Stamps, bubble wrap or other texture materials

Leaves from outside

Die cut leaves

TUTORIAL

Drip paint in yellow, orange and red as shown. It doesn’t take much paint to cover the gelli plate.

Use the brayer to spread the paint over the gelli plate.

Create texture in the wet paint with bubble wrap, stamps, combs, etc.

Place the real leaves or die cut leaves over the texture you just made. Now you are ready to lift your first print!

Place the white card stock over the gelli plate and smooth out with hands, ensuring contact all over the card stock.

After lifting the first print, and removing the leaves, you are left with this, which creates a cool second print.

The left is the first print and the right is the second print after removing the leaves.

Here I followed the above steps, but used leaves I die cut from cardstock with the Sizzix Tattered Leaves Die instead of real leaves.

I love this technique, and the DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics are great to use for it. I tried a few other paints, but got blurred lines with the leaf outlines. I am excited to do more gelli prints!

Have you tried gelli printing?

DIY Graphic Centerpiece from Reclaimed Wood

by Johnnie Collier

Now that I have your attention with a seriously adorable puppy and his one blue eye, I would like to show you how to make this chicken wire reclaimed wood graphic centerpiece! This piece definitely evolved as it was being made. My friend came over to see if we could come up with a centerpiece for her square kitchen table, and we started at my wood pile. We ripped some chippy painted trim, and added it to some pallet wood and wire. We thought we were finished there, but had the idea to visit The Graphics Fairy where we found the perfect vintage spoon and fork images to transfer onto the pallet wood sides. The result is just what she had in mind, and now I want to make one for myself!

SUPPLIES:

Scrap wood (we used wood pallets and old trim)

Chicken Wire

Ryobi Air Nailer

1 inch brad nails

Kreg jig

1 inch Kreg Screws

Wood Glue

White Tissue Paper

Mod Podge Matte

Printer (laser jet or ink jet printer are fine)

Card stock

Painter’s Tape

Mitre Saw

Drill

Metal Snips

TUTORIAL:

We knew we wanted a square crate. Starting with the bottom, we used two 5.5 inch wide pieces of pallet wood that we cut to 11 inches long with the mitre saw.

We attached the pieces together with the Kreg Jig Pocket Hole System and 1 inch screws (I showed you how to use that here: How to Use a Kreg Jig). The blue circles show the Kreg pocket holes.

We cut two pallet wood sides to 11 inches and attached them with pocket holes and .75 inch screws since the pallet wood sides were to thin for 1 inch screws.

Next we lined up the trim pieces we had ripped and marked them, cutting them with the mitre saw to the appropriate length.

Next we cut the chicken wire with aviation snips to fit the sides of the crate. We attached the chippy painted trim piece over the chicken wire to hold it in place.

We thought we were finished, but then Victoria had the great idea of adding the chippy trim to the pallet wood sides where the arrows are in the photo.

We cut the trim to fit and nailed it into place with the Ryobi nailer. This is what we were left with at that point. I decided the wood area at the arrow and the side opposite it were perfect for graphics. We chose the vintage spoon and fork graphics linked in the first paragraph and used the tissue paper image transfer technique I showed you here: DIY Image Transfer Recycled Glass Bottles.

Not bad for a couple of hours and $0 spent!

For more inspiration, visit our 50+ Image Transfer Techniques!

DIY Reclaimed Wood Craft Paint Storage Shelves

by Johnnie Collier

Paint storage is an issue in my new craft space. Bookshelves are not a great solution since they are so deep and tall. I like to be able to see my paints for inspiration, and to get to the colors I need easily. I decided to make my own shelves that are shallow and closely spaced so that I could fit as many as possible in the allotted area. This was a quick and easy project, made with reclaimed wood I had on hand, so I spent zero dollars.

SUPPLIES:

Reclaimed wood cut to length and width you want your shelves

Shims cut from 2x wood, the same length as the shelves (mine are 24 inches), 1/4 inch thick

2 1/2 inch Kreg Screws Kreg Jig

Ryobi Air Nailer

Wood Glue

Leveler

Stud Finder

Pencil

Tape Measurer

Straight Edge

TUTORIAL:

Cut shelves to 24 inches. I used tongue and groove boards that I had on hand and ripped to 3.5 inches to fit my 3.25 inch paint jars. I cut the groove edge off when I ripped them, so that the tongue edge would create a lip for the wood shims to sit on as the front of the shelf in a later step.

Find studs and mark shelf boards in 2 spots where you will create pocket holes with Kreg Jig. Create pocket holes like I showed you here: How to use a Kreg Jig. I decided to stagger my shelves, so I created pocket holes four inches from each end on half of my shelves and on the other half, 1 inch from one end and 7 inches from the other end.

Use tape measurer and straight edge to draw lines on the wall where your shelves will go. I spaced my shelves 5.75 inches apart. Use 2.5 inch Kreg Screws to attache shelves into studs on your marked lines. After placing the first screw, use leveler to level shelf, then place second screw in the other stud.

Add wood glue to the tongue lip and place wood shim, creating front of shelf. Nail shim into place with 1 inch brads in air nailer.

Attach all shelves and place paint!

So easy, and free, this paint storage solution is tops!

What do you think? How do you stay organized in your creative space?

50+ DIY Home Decor Projects to Make with a Jigsaw

by Johnnie Collier

The jigsaw is a super versatile tool, and a great place to start the power tool journey. It is handheld, can be fairly inexpensive (like this Corded : Skil Saw. Variable Speed 4290-02), and cuts shapes in a variety of materials, with the appropriate blade. I did a number of projects with a the above linked Skil Saw I scored at a garage sale for, and only recently splurged on a new one because of a gift card I received. The new one is fancy pants and cordless, but it doesn’t do anything the bare bones version can’t. You can build the same projects with a basic jigsaw and a little practice. That is great news, since as you will see below, you can make some seriously stylish and functional pieces for your home with this tool. Enjoy!

DIY Liquor Bottle to Mercury Glass Bracelet Storage

by Johnnie Collier

Bottle Bracelet Storage

I am always looking for unique and decorative ways to organize my jewelry. Pretty up a long necked bottle to suit your style and display your bracelets for all to see. It doesn’t get much more straightforward than this project!

MATERIALS

-Long Necked Bottle

-Glass Bottle of your choice

–Krylon Looking Glass Spray Paint

–Krylon Spray Adhesive Remover

-Epson Salt

-Kraft paper, plastic or other work surface protector

Bracelets galore

DIRECTIONS

1. Remove any labels from your bottle with adhesive remover. I love Krylon’s Spray Adhesive Remover. Saves loads of time for wine bottle upcyclers like me!

2. Pour Epson salt into bottle so that to about one inch from the bottom. If your bottle is smaller, you can use less. It is not important to be exact here.

3. In a well ventilated area with protected work surface, spray looking glass paint into mouth of bottle. Make sure to follow instructions on label. You want to shake the can vigourously before using. If your bottle mouth is small in diameter like this genie bottle, you will have paint pooling in one spot and running down the neck. That is fine.

4. Shake the bottle like a snow globe, so that the salt grabs the paint and drags it around. This will create the mercury glass look.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 a few more times, allowing each coat to dry for about 5 minutes before applying the next. Stop when are happy with the look.

2. Place your bracelets and admire.

EXTRA TIPS

Decoupage the bottle or paint it with glass paint and stencils for a look other than mercury glass. The customization possibilities are infinite!

Does DIY Jewelry Storage excite you? Visit our 50+ Clever Jewelry Storage DIY Ideas!

Need some bracelets now that you have a stylish, eco friendly bracelet display? We have you covered with 50+ DIY Bracelets to Make:

Wine Bottle Candle Holder Tutorial

by Johnnie Collier

Magnify and reflect candlelight in these gorgeous green wine bottle tiered holders. This project involves cutting bottles and gluing bottoms to tops, giving you luxury style on a dime in no time. Tiered candle holders make great mantle décor and centerpieces for all occasions.

I was given these beautiful Protea Wine Bottles to use. They have the coolest designs, don’t they? Sadly, I shattered one of them, but the other survived! Here is how I did it…

MATERIALS

-Bottle cutting supplies (I use Creator’s Bottle Cutter)
–E6000 Industrial Glue
-green wine bottles
-Rubbing alcohol or glass cleaner
-Paper Towels

DIRECTIONS

1. Remove labels
2. Clean glass bottles with rubbing alcohol or glass cleaner before cutting.
3. For detailed bottle cutting instructions, see How to Cut Wine Bottles. Cut wine bottles in three heights from the bottom of the bottle to the cut line. You can eyeball it, or measure with a rule and mark with a sharpie. The smallest bottle could be four inches, the middle five inches, then six to get an equal gradient in height for your final candle holders. Use the top of the wine bottle for your candle holder base, or cut beer bottle necks for the base. That is what I did for this project.

5. Gather the tops of the beer bottles and the bottoms of the wine bottles, and make sure they are clean.

6. Apply E6000 to the mouth of the beer bottle and place on flat surface.
7. Place and center cut wine bottle on top of the glue.
8. Let dry overnight.

9. Add filler and candles. Flameless LED tea lights are shown here, on top of filler sand.

Wine Bottle Glass Holder DIY

by Johnnie Collier

It doesn’t get much cheaper or easier than this reclaimed wood to bottle/glass holder and display! Power tools are involved, but fear not; even the novice can pull this off beautifully. Impress your date on your next romantic evening with wine for two!

MATERIALS

-Scrap wood

-¼ inch Drill bit

-1.5 inch hole saw

-Jig saw

-Medium grit sand paper

DIRECTIONS

1. Sand the edges of your wood down so it looks a little worn and smooth.

2. Using the 1.5 inch hole saw drill a hole precisely in the center of the board.

3. Then using the ¼ inch bit drill a hole in the middle of the board approximately ½ inch back from each end.

4. Use a jig saw or saber saw to then slot these holes to the end of the board.

5. Plop it onto your favorite bottle of vino and let your stem ware hang freely.

EXTRA TIPS

￮ Paint your board to match your home or party décor. Etch monograms or other custom text like I showed you in the glass tumblers and doily bottle projects. Give these away as neighbor gifts for picnic season, or as easy, inexpensive holiday gifts!

DIY Upcycle Lighted Santa Bottles

50 Plus Awesome Sharpie Projects to Make