After a few cork projects on the blog over the last few weeks, I figured it is time for a bottle to be the star of the show 🙂 This project is such great fun way of recycling your old bottles AND making a autumn display that you can use year after year. You know, unlike the carved pumpkins that go off after a few days in the garden (ever done that? Left them too long?! .. EWWW!! – they become a mushy mess!) And you could make different bottle pumpkins in different sizes to group them together. How cute?! Here’s what you need:
what you need for your bottle pumpkin
- An old bottle – you can use any shape but I used an old square bottle
- Acrylic paint – I used my current seasonal fave – pumpkin colour 🙂
- A paint brush – any old brush will do!
- Some jute natural string
- Hot glue
- A few craft leaves (I got mine from The Works)
prepping your bottle
Start by washing and soaking the bottles thoroughly. You want to get rid of any boozy smells. Especially if you’re going to have them on display in your home for a while 😉
Now, getting the label removed proved a bit of a challenge .. to say the least. Don’t these bottle manufacters realise us crafters NEED these bottles to turn into pumpkins?! There’s got to be an easier way to remove these?! #amIright? Anyway, I left to soak for ages, scrubbed away the main part of the label with some wire wool. The final bit needed a bit of help with this “Sticky Stuff Remover” which did the job nicely, thank you very much!
Next, completely dry the bottle and get painting. I ended up using 3 layers of acrylic paint to make sure the whole bottle had a full covering without any patches.
For the stem I used some jute string. Add a small amount of hot glue to the base of the thread. Secure the end of the string in place and wrap it around the bottle top. Add small amounts of glue as you go in some places to secure. For me, one layer didn’t quite cover all the gaps (pic 2) so I repeated the same process again, this time moving down the bottle top – see pic 3 (basically ending where I started).
I hot glued some leaves for detail and finished it off with a raffia bow (what else?!)
the results!
Another quick autumn addition for your home that you can use year after year. Who says decorating your home for different seasons has to be expensive? It’s a great fun way to upcycle some old bottles and adding some autumn colour to your window sill all at the same time!
Do you recognise the owl? If you’ve not seen it, you can find the project here for some added autumn fun!
How lovely and sunny is that colour?!
Would you do me a favour please and Pin this for me so others can upcycle their bottles to pumpkins too?
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