D-I-Y Vases

This project involves upcycling Starbucks frappuccino bottles with different crafty ideas from Pinterest into one project that costs next to nothing, takes very little time, and yields a cute vase that you can use anywhere - or even give as a gift. What's not to like?

Start with Starbucks frappuccino bottles. Hmmm. I know I had several...where, oh, where could they be??

(Excuse me a moment while I climb on my soapbox....)
You know how some wives buy things & hide them from their husbands? (At least I've heard there are wives who do this, I have no personal experience with it.) Well, Gus throws things away on the sly and then tries to pretend he doesn't know what happened to them. That's annoying to a crafty wife who has just discovered the perfect project for that container she saved, but now can't find. Guess who can only find two of the six Starbucks bottles she saved?

Okay, back to the project...


A few months ago, I sprayed one of the Starbucks bottles with oil-rubbed bronze metallic paint (saw that idea on Pinterest), thinking that I would stencil it or apply rub-on lettering. Turns out the paint was really too dark to do that, and I didn't want white or cream lettering. So I put it away. Then I saw the bottles wrapped in twine/jute (again on Pinterest). Cute! And finally, I saw how to make the most adorable twine flowers (of course, on Pinterest). Hey, I'll combine them!


What I used:

• glass Starbucks frapppuccino bottle (painting optional)
• jute
• twine flowers (check out my tutorial here), ribbon, or whatever you want to use to decorate the bottles
• hot glue gun

How I did it:

First, you put a dot of hot glue on what will be the back side of the bottle, and quickly press the jute/twine into it so that it will be anchored to the bottle...


Then you start wrapping the jute/twine around the bottle until you get the look you want. You can use a little or a lot; put it on the top, the middle, or the bottom - whatever looks good to you. Make sure that you leave enough jute/twine to end up on the back side of the bottle again - and then gently push the wrapped jute/twine down a little, add a dot of hot glue, and press the end into the glue to hold it., Then just gently move the wrapped jute/twine back up over the end to hide it.


Now you can add any embellishments - twine flowers, ribbon, lace - whatever you like! I just tied the ribbon on, and the flowers are attached with a dot of hot glue. FYI: since I just used a dot of glue, the flowers are easy to remove - so I can change the look anytime I want!


How easy was that? They're definitely a "rustic" or "country" look - but I think they're pretty cute!


(Ignore the silk flowers - that's all I had on hand. Stupid cold weather!!)


This is definitely another craft your kids could do as well. They could use yarn in their favorite color - add glitter, ribbons, buttons, etc. Then they could display it in their room - or put flowers in it and give it to Grandma for Easter or Mother's Day!

NOTE TO GUS:
The next time one of my project treasures comes up missing, I'm heading out to the garage and I'm going to rearrange everything in your "DO NOT TOUCH" cabinets. Love you! :-)