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.