Finally I am able to introduce a series of posts that I have been patiently waiting to reveal, I just could not find the time during the semester to begin it. However, now that I am settled into Winter Break and just finished celebrating my 21st Birthday (yay!), I can now begin my wine bottle series. I began collecting wine bottles during the summer when I began to see all the crafts containing the bottles on Pinterest. I worked for the conference staff at my university, and most of the evening activities for the attendees concerned movies and a semi-amateur bar set up provided by the conference staff. So once the nuns consumed all the wine, I would just take the empty bottles back to my room, clean them up and put them on my shelf for safe keeping until I found the appropriate craft to use with them. My first post concerning these wine bottles was actually used as a Christmas present for one of my best friends, therefore, I had to keep this on the down low until I could actually give it to her!
One of my best friends, Taylor, adores cheetah print. Actually, she calls it her favorite color. If you start to argue that cheetah is not technically considered a color, she will…..well actually I’m not sure what she will do because I know not to argue with her, haha. Anyways, I found an idea dealing with cheetah print and a wine bottle on pinterest. However, I was not a particular fan of the original idea.
The picture that sparked my original creation from Pinterest
There were no instructions with this pin, however, it looked like a thin cloth material wrapped around the bottle. I felt that the cloth material would be too difficult to wrap around without using a type of glue or tape. I also was not a particular fan of the large flower stuffed in the top, but I did like the lights placed in the bottle.
So for my Christmas present for Taylor, I figured I would incorporate cheetah print with her second favorite color, teal. And finishing off the project by putting some white Christmas lights in the bottle. I began by taking the label off of the bottle. In my past wine bottle projects I would just let the bottle soak for a day in a bucket. After a long soak, the label is able to come off quite easily, however, some of the glue may still be stuck on the bottle. So to finish that up, I just grabbed some Goo Gone and off it went! I began by painting a white base coat on the wine bottle.
One coat wasn’t enough, so I did two coats, just to make sure that it was nice and even and covered up all of the bottle parts showing.
My next step was to paint the teal spots on the bottle. I used a medium sized brush because this was a larger wine bottle. The spots were easy, at first I tried to make this look perfect and similar, but after looking at more cheetah print pictures, I soon gave up on that one. I just randomly made the spots, and already I was super excited with how it was looking.
Step two: painting on the teal spots
One coat was enough for the spots, leading me to my next step: painting on the black spots, using the same paintbrush.
All done!
I was really happy with how the painting turned out after I completed the black spots. To give it a finishing touch, I applied a coat of clear gloss spray paint. My white basic coat of paint was not acrylic like my teal and black, so it was not as smooth as I thought it would come out. So the gloss had a nice touch.
Terrible photo quality, but a glance at the finished product, with the lights and everything in. I got a string of 100 bulbs, perhaps a bit too much, should have gone for a smaller string of lights, but I know for the future now!
Taylor and I exchanged gifts the same night, below is a little comparison of my gift wrapping versus her’s. Yes, she is most defiantly a professional wrapper. I didn’t have a bag or anything convenient to put the bottle in, so I just sort of wung it in wrapping paper, perhaps not the smartest of choices, but it got the job done.
I hope you enjoyed my first wine bottle project, I have several more coming to continue the wine bottle series!
Until then, pinterest on!
Johnna ❤
Just Keep Pinning 