Bottle Recycling

Here's a candle holder trio I made from the tops of beer bottles (remnants from our kitchen redo). The bases are made from some decorative laser cut wood pieces which I found at Micheal's and then I wire  wrapped to hold the bottles. The stands are slices from some table legs we recycled when we build our bathroom vanity (we build that before I started blogging & one of these days I will get around to doing a post on it).

Wire Wrapped Upcycled Jar Vase

 This is what I made my mom for Mother's Day. Years ago I had torn from a catalog a picture of something similar . The photo was very small, so I couldn't really see the detail of how it was made and I think they were smaller. 
Well to make mine, I went out & got some glass beads (blue and clear) some 16 gauge blue craft wire (two 7 foot packs) and some silver wire from the hardware dept (it was cheaper than the craft wire, but will probably tarnish quicker). I had a neat jar from maple syrup that I was thinking of using, but it seemed a bit big. I then looked in the fridge & found an old jar of McCormick cocktail sauce that I don't even remember ever buying. I emptied it out (it's color was off) washed it out & then used some blue glass stain on it for color. 
I then slid a few beads onto the wire and started twisting the ends into curls and following the shape of the bottle. I wrapped more wire around the top & bottom of the bottle and looped the side pieces through them. At this point I got frustrated because the side pieces were just flopping from side to side. Obviously I didn't quite get the construction right. I used the silver wire strung with beads to attach the separate swirl pieces at the bottom and for additional decoration. To get the sides to stay in place I attached some more silver wire with beads & just wrapped it all around the two pieces to get them to stay in place. 
Now I'm just hoping that the weight the vase once a little water & flowers are put in won't cause it to come apart.

Bottle Bottom Valance

We finally finished mounting the bottle bottoms in the valance & connected it to the cabinets. We just love how it came out, can't wait to finish the bottles on the bar counter. Of course we had to take took it back down this morning as the electricians are here to install all the light fixtures and outlets. Little by little, we're finally approaching the end of this overdue project.

Mounting Bottle Bottoms in Wood

Bamboo Finish on box to heighten Brick Wall

Bottle Bottom Template for Valance

Sometimes simple ideas are harder to execute than you expect. My idea of mounting glass bottle bottoms into the wood we used to build-up our brick wall to counter height took days & days of planning & practice to figure out how to accomplish it. 
First of all a lot of beer bottles appear the same size, but they vary ever so slightly. Also since we are using LED lights to shine through from the inside of the box, the bottles need to fit snug in the hole so light doesn’t bleed around the edge. The cleanest way to get a nice round hole in wood without chewing up the edges is with a hole saw. Only problem, they come in just certain sizes & the larger ones get pricey. Between the contractor & ourselves, we had quite a few, but not enough for all the sizes of bottles. We splurged on a few additional ones. My husband also found an adjustable hole maker, but it wasn’t cutting through thick pieces of wood easily. So after various practice holes and shaving down of glass bottles, he decided to use the adjustable hole saw to cut holes in a template, clamp that template to the box and use his router to cut the smooth round holes. So we ended up going out & spending almost $25 on the right router bit. In the end it was worth it.

Bob cutting Circle Templates

Adjustable Hole Saw

Hole Cutters & practice cuts in Bamboo

The Circle Templates

Special Router Bit

Box with Circles Cut Out (protective tape still applied)

Using a Door for a Photo Gallery

My mother-in-law was a water color artist & my husband is a photographer. On top of all the numerous pieces of artwork they’ve produced we also collect works of other favorite artist. Needless to say, there is never enough wall space in our home to display all of our collections. I wanted to frame more of Bob’s photos and needed a place to display them.

We have a glass door in the house that had been painted over years ago for privacy purposes. The glass panels in the door are recessed, providing nice spaces for pictures. I decided that removing the paint would probably be too much work & I wasn’t sure the glass would come out clear enough. So I began looking for pre-made frames that would fit the spaces. Since they weren’t a standard frame size, the frugal side of me decided custom sized frames would be too costly. I was fortunate enough to find 8”x20” frames for around $6 per frame. They fit perfectly inside across the recessed areas. Now all I needed was to come up with a way of attaching them to the door. I was looking for something to bridge over the frame that I could screw into the wood frame of the door. On Ebay, I found some wood triangles that I thought would look interesting. I ordered a package of them & some small brass screws. I then had to stain them to match the color of the wood frames. I then attached them with 2 screws to the sides of the frame and one screw into the door. The most time consuming part of the project was choosing which photos (there are thousands to pick from) to put together in each frame and then cutting some mats to fit them. Now that they are up, I find myself constantly staring at the beautiful door gallery.

Featured on Saved By Love

A big Thank You goes out to Saved By Love Creations for featuring my Shag Pillow in their post on 50 Recycled T-shirt projects. It's really wonderful to be included with so many other incredible recycled projects. My favorite among them is the Pink Rosette Purse from Come Together Kids, but all of the projects are wonderful.This post has really upped my traffic, it's so wonderful that everyone is enjoying the pillow. Needless to say, they've been added to my blog roll, give them a visit.

I Love Repurposing Things

I was thrift shopping last week and spotted a cute summer top, it was even 50% off, but it was too small for me. I was going to put it back, but was just in love with the print.  I also decide I liked the gathered straps and then decided it would make a cute shopping tote. So I brought it home, ripped out the seams and remade it. Look for it in my Etsy Shop. I hate plastic bags and I’m so into the  reuseables now, I keep 2 in my purse all the time and hope to make some more for my shop soon.

New Uses For Hardware And Such

These necklaces are made using a variety of hardware. The turquoise one is made with metal washers, stacked buttons and painted metal scrapbook embellishments. The rectangular one has beads that are made from sliced pieces of pyrex pipettes from a medical lab. The three tier floral pendant is made from epoxy scrapbook stickers over metal washers. The coral color one is made from a C-clip that is some kind of auto part, semi-precious stones and buttons.

The Coral Rose Handbag

I made this elegant purse without a pattern. I used the coral color fabric sample just the size it was. I sewed up the sides and created a corner on each side to form the bottom. I thought it would look nice with a front pocket, so I looked thru my scraps & found the lovely floral fabric (left over from a round cushion I made). I cut out the pockets and flap and sewed them on. Then I realized I might have just enough scrap left to add a zipper closure across the top. My mother had recently given me a beaded necklace. I restrung one of its strands onto wire for the handle. Look for it in my Etsy shop.

Upcycled Bathroom Heater

We recently renovated our main bathroom. I chose not to demolish the existing tile (unlike most major renovators would recommend). First of all, I liked the tile, secondly most of it was still in great condition and thirdly, I prefer to add as little as possible to the waste stream. The problem with preserving 60 year old tile is the fact that they no longer make it and new tiles are not available.
We had an old recessed wall heater just below the window. It was no longer working and with new central air and heat, it was no longer needed. But since it was recessed into the wall removing it would have left a hole that would have required new tiles to cover. Since it was located on the wall right next to the toilet and the center opening provided a good size, I decided to convert it to a magazine rack. I removed it from the wall and unscrewed the face from the part that held the heater coil. I then cut some pieces of craft wood to line the rear and sides of the recess in the wall. I stained them to match the dark wood color we were using for our sink vanity. I then built a wedge shape out of some more wood and stained & polyurethaned it. I screwed it on through the same holes that had held the rear part of the heater on. I also stain some strips of wood to go behind the beautiful cut outs, because the edges of my inside frame now showed through . I chose to leave the original label and toggle switch on the face to give it some character. It works great and I didn’t have to add any more problems to my tile renovation (more on the subject in a future blog).