Search Results for: upcycle

Upcycled Wine Bottle Lighted Candy Corns

This project is the latest in upcycled wine bottles here at SBLC. It is super simple to create, and pretty dang Halloweeny. All you need is some glass paint, LED light strings and a few basic supplies to create your own illuminated, eco-friendly Halloween decor.

You can see how I made the shelf for the bottles in my DecoArt address lantern DIY. I added some black duct tape that I cut with a decorative edge sizzix die by Tim Holtz.

Here is how I made the bottles:

This post is not sponsored by Deco Art. I just want to say again, thank you to them for such great paint! The wine bottle lantern project is what I created for my sponsored Deco Art tutorial, and I have several more creations in mind with this fun glass line. You can pick it up at your local Michael’s, or visit DecoArt for product and project tips, tricks and inspiration.

Upcycled Aluminum Can Fall Wreath DIY

by Johnnie Collier

This is one of my favorite projects ever. I cost pennies to create, I absolutely love fall decorating and crafting, and upcycling is my thing. To make this wreath, I used my Sizzix and Tim Holtz leaf die, but if you don’t have a die cutter, you could do this part by hand with a leaf template, or use leaf shaped paper punches. They work great on aluminum cans. Let’s get started on this vibrant, eco-friendly autumn leaf wreath!

SUPPLIES:

Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die

Sizzix

Ranger Alcohol Inks in your fave fall colors; Check out my friend Amy’s awesome color palate for fall, and how she used the inks on a shower curtain cut with the leaf die

Felt applicator for alcohol inks

Straw

Aluminum cans

Metal snips

Cardboard

Circle shapes to trace for inner and outer diameter of wreath

Pen

Scissors

3D Foam Mounts

Duct tape (optional, but recommended if you are putting your wreath outside)

Non stick craft mat

TUTORIAL:

Rinse out your cans with soapy water and cut them into sheets like my aluminum can rose video:

What do you think? Do you want to make one yourself? What are your favorite fall decor projects?

Upcycled Belt Bracelet Video DIY

by Johnnie Collier

This video tutorial shows you how to use those belts in your donate pile to make customizable cuff bracelets. The idea came to me when my husband gave me the belt that with a pair of shorts. He was going to get rid of it, but passed it my way in and challenged me to repurpose it. It is a perfect frugal handmade gift for all occasions. I have already made and gifted several of these.

VIDEO TUTORIAL:

Upcycled Apple Treat Cups

by Johnnie Collier

Need a fall party favor or teacher gift for back to school? Today’s guest has you covered with these precious apple treat cups. Not only are they adorable, but they are eco-friendly, made from plastic bottles. Malia from Yesterday on Tuesday makes me happy. How did she know I love apples? If you are new to this talented creator of vintage lovelies, you are in for a treat. I could spend hours browsing her projects, and her recipes usually make me drool on my keyboard. Thanks for sharing with us, Malia!

Hi There, Saved By Love Friends! My name is Malia and I blog over at Yesterday on Tuesday, where I like to share craft projects, recipes, vintage finds and more.

Johnnie is one of my favorite bloggy pals so I was psyched when I got the opportunity to blognap SBL for a day while she’s on vacation.

I am a BIG crazy upcycler. It bugs me to see things go to waste so before I toss something in the recycling or trash I am always thinking… WHAT CAN I MAKE WITH THIS?

With school coming up, and apples in season, I had a hankering to make something apple-themed… so the idea of these apple treat cups was born. These would be cute for a back-to-school party or autumn gathering.

Supplies: 12 oz plastic drink bottles, red spray paint, a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, leaf punch, green cardstock, green pipe cleaner or twist ties, red candy, clear treat bags, glue or glue dots.

Punch 2 leaves per “apple” and set aside.

Find the seam on the bottle, stick the knife or scissors in and cut all the way around.

The plactic won’t be sharp but you can go around again with scissors to even it out.

Spray paint the “cups”

Don’t forget the bottoms!

It might take a few coats.

After they are all dry… it’s time for the fun part. Fill the treat bag up with red candy, use a snippet of pipe cleaner or twist tie to close it and secure the leaves on there with a drop of glue or a glue dot.

Any kind of small red candy will do!

Ta-Da! A cute Upcyled Apple Treat Cups. “Pick” one or two or three!

Thanks for letting me hang out with you today and thank you Johnnie, for having me.

I’d love to connect with you on my blog, Pinterest or Facebook.

Deco Art Glass Paint; Upcycle Wine Bottles

by Johnnie Collier

Remember the Deco Art glass paint I showed you not long ago? Well today is the project reveal. I focused on the glitter paint, and decided to use the opportunity to bring some warm colors to my porch for fall. You will see how I used the sparkle filled colors and stencils to create wine bottle address lanterns. This project does not require experience, but patience is helpful. You will be cutting wine bottles, and painting several light layers of gloss enamel glitter. There is some waiting involved, so plan on doing a little each day over several days. The result is well worth the wait.

Cutting the Bottles

First step is to cut the wine bottles. This is accomplished with yarn and acetone in a quick, simple process I showed you in this video:

I cut mine at 3 different heights to have a tiered display. We are working only with the upper piece of bottle in this tutorial, but the lower part makes a great dish, glass or candle holder. To get the edges smooth, dear husband and I teamed up and used the sander drill attachment with low grit sand paper:

Before you being painting, clean the bottle well. Use warm, soapy water, pat dry with lent free cloth, then clean entire surface with alcohol. If you skip this step, oils in fingerprints remain and prevent your paint from grabbing onto the slick surface. Keep the alcohol nearby to correct any mistakes.

Painting the Glass

NOTES: I was going for an ombre red-yellow from bottle opening to cut edge. The effect was created with several layers of Gloss enamel glitter, applied lightly with a cosmetic sponge. This was after a big, streaky craft fail that I found myself in from applying too heavily with a brush. The good news is that you can wipe mistakes away easily with damp sponge if paint hasn’t dried. Even if it has dried some, you should be able to scrape it off if you do so before the 4 days of curing. Also keep in mind that if it looks a little streaky, this could diminish significantly with overnight drying.

You will see in the photos, I added a segment of gloss enamel frost to the top of my red to yellow gradient for a contrast with the glittery awesomeness. Always let paint dry between each step. Put your finger in the mouth of the bottle to avoid touching outside and leaving fingerprints.

*NOTE: When stenciling, work on one side of the glass and let that dry before moving around the glass. It is super frustrating to mess up your stenciled design, which is easy to do while positioning stencil/painting in another area.

Cure time is 4 days for these paints. After that time, you can bake per instructions if the piece needs to be dishwasher safe. Not the case here. I built my shelf (see photos) and had my sparkly new address lantern display up 24 hours later.

Making the Shelf/Holder

So, what do you think? I had a blast with these paints. My project centered on the glitter finish, but I have been all over the stain and the frost paints, and love them. There are some stunning projects by my creative cohorts. See the list below for more inspiration. You will be tempted to jump in your car and drive to the nearest Michaels Store, where you will find it near the glass products.

**I wrote this post as a part of a paid campaign with DecoArt. All opinions are my own.

Upcycle a Suitcase into a Table

by Johnnie Collier

This project is one of my favorites so far. It was free, fast, and the outcome is super cool. The suitcase was given to me by a friend, the table a curbside find. Check out how I combined them in a repurpose taking less than 20 minutes.

SUPPLIES

Old Suitcase

Table with surface area that fits under suitcase (this only matters if you are using the legs in the same position as they are in the original table)

Pen

2 inch Construction Screws

Drill

Scrap wood cut small enough to fit inside suitcase, big enough to reach all leg contact points (you will put this in the suitcase and screw through it, the suitcase bottom and into the legs)

TUTORIAL

The details of your table may vary how you have to go about this, but you can do it. Had my tabletop fit inside of my suitcase, I would have just put int in there and screwed the tabletop through the bottom of the suitcase into the legs. Since it didn’t, I used scrap wood I had on hand that happened to fit inside and still cover the leg holes. If you have a miter saw, a more precise (involved) version of the process can be found in this suitcase to table tutorial from Stacie at Stars for Streetlights (who planted the idea in my head with her fantastic project). I am satisfied with my 20 minute version!

Do you have any suitcase repurpose ideas or projects to share? I still have 2 left and would love to hear from you.

Upcycle Leather Jean Tag Bracelet

by Johnnie Collier

An eco-friendly, way cheap, super easy and quick, gorgeous leather bracelet is what you will find in this tutorial. I originally shared this project at Carolyn’s Homework. Maybe you noticed the bracelet mania going on here and everywhere. They are so cute for summer, and can be made from recycled materials to look stunning for little cost. Time to rip the label off your jeans and transform it into beautiful wrist decor.

Although I do use my Sizzix to emboss the leather, you can absolutely do this project without it.

SUPPLIES:

Label from jeans

Hole punch and eyelet setter (I use Crop-a-dile in this tutorial)

Metal chain long enough for the bracelet to fit wrist

Jewelry Pliers to open and close jumprings

Jewelry clasp for closure

Sizzix and embossing folder of you choice (optional)

Crafter’s Pick Glue

Paper Rose

Krylon Clear Coat (to seal paper rose)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Once the glue is dry, you are ready to wear your new upcycled jeans label bracelet!

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed. You can find me at all my places:

xoxo,

Tutorial: Upcycled T-shirt Bracelets

by Johnnie Collier

Summer has brought a serious bracelet obsession, worldwide. Here is a fun, eco-friendly project using old t-shirts to create stack-able wrist decor for little or no cost.

You will need:

Old T-shirts

Scissors

Tutorial:

The cuff made from the collar is optional. The above pic shows it without.

For the other 2 T-shirt bracelets, I did macrame knotting. Just start out like I showed you above, making a loop at one end . Then follow the macrame instructions I linked in this macrame bracelet DIY.

Want some more T-Shirt Crafts? Check out my round-up of over 50 projects you can make from old t-shirts!

Guest Post: Wine Bottle Upcycle

by Johnnie Collier

I was so excited I was contacted by Jessi Snow. She wanted to know if she could share this cute wine bottle upcycle here at SBLC. It is like she knew what this week’s 50+ round-up theme. Now you do too! Her project is as great as her timing. Take it away Jessi…

We drink a whole lot of beverages out of glass bottles in our house. We’re wine with dinner kind of people, I love Perrier and let’s be honest – glass bottles are just so much prettier. I’ve always been really good about bringing our empties to the local recycling depot, and every once in a while I would put one to use as an impromptu home for a flower or two, but it wasn’t until recently that I decided to try upcycling them into something I would really use. We recently moved into a new house and I had a whole lot more surface area to decorate, so I decided to create some pretty vases out of empty glass bottles to help spice up some space. Here is how I did it!

Supplies:

Empty glass bottles – any kind will do!
Rubbing alcohol
Quick dry spray-paint – a primer and your color of choice
Acrylic paint (for letters and pictures)
Small paintbrush (for letters)

Steps:

The day before I planned to actually paint the bottles I collected up a handful of and gave them a good soak in warm soapy water before scraping off the labels. If you have trouble removing the labels, pour a bit of rubbing alcohol directly on them and allow it to soak in for a few minutes before trying again.
I let the bottles dry for a full 24 hours – you don’t need to wait this long, especially if you have a bottle drying rack, but I wanted to be sure all the moisture was gone from the inside of the bottle before I got to work.
Once they were dry inside and out began by priming the outside of each bottle with a quick-dry white spray-paint primer. This step isn’t really necessary but a lot of my bottles were green and I wanted to be sure that the color wouldn’t show through on the ones I wanted to paint white. It also gives the paint a better surface to adhere to and reduces the chances that the paint will chip off.
Next I liberally sprayed the colors I had chosen onto each bottle – I went with navy and white for this first batch to match the bedspread in my spare bedroom. I applied a couple coats to make sure everything was even and because I used quick-dry spray-paint I didn’t have to wait long before the second round which was great!
Once the bottles were dry to the touch I started painting on the writing. I had chosen a handful of quotes ahead of time and put two on each bottle – one on each side – so that I could change things up if I wanted to.
I let the bottles sit outside in a warm, dry spot for a couple hours before bringing them in and putting them to good use!

Suggestions:

I realized pretty quickly that I wasn’t blessed with steady painters hands – those letters were tough work! If you’re anything like me, you might want to consider using stickers or stencils to give your bottles a more polished look.
I sprayed the outside of my bottles but you don’t have to go this route. You can also spray the inside instead to maintain the glass look while adding a pop of color.
Work outside! No matter how hard you try, spray paint has a tendency to go everywhere. I’d definitely recommend tackling this project somewhere rogue paint splatters won’t be an issue.

Some projects look a whole lot easier than they actually are, but I can assure you that this isn’t one of them! The second half of the process (aka. the fun stuff) took me less than 45 minutes and was as easy as pie. If you’re looking for a quick way to brighten up a room or a sweet little gift for a friend, these are definitely the way to go. Thanks so much to Johnnie for the opportunity to come share my tutorial with you guys today, I can’t wait to get some new ideas on how to upcycle glass bottles from a couple of you too!

Jessi is a crafter with a big thing for DIY. When she isn’t dreaming up a new project, she spends her time trying to encourage others to embrace the do-it-yourselfer lifestyle as a Community Coordinator at PartSelect.com.

Upcycled: Magazine Page Rose Ring

by Johnnie Collier

It was only a matter of time before I combined my Sizzix obsession with magazine pages. I was hesitant because the pages are so easily torn and flimsy if not coated with decoupage medium. I didn’t really want to run that through my machine. It hit me that I could laminate the pages with clear contact paper to give strength and durability. Yay! Now I can fold, twist and rough up magazine pages about as well as I can heavy cardstock. This would work well for fragile old book pages and sheet music too.

I formed the 3 D rose by coiling the cut strip around a toothpick like the Sizziz 3 D Rose die insert instructs, then I added a jewel to the center of the rose with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. I cut some leaf shapes from an old yellow leather purse, and used E6000 to adhere the rose and leaves to the Plaid Ring Bling ring blank.

Search Results for: upcycle

Upcycled Wine Bottle Lighted Candy Corns

Upcycled Aluminum Can Fall Wreath DIY

SUPPLIES:

TUTORIAL:

Upcycled Belt Bracelet Video DIY

VIDEO TUTORIAL:

Upcycled Apple Treat Cups