Vintage Bottle Tutorial

My parents are in the process of building a new house. They needed some fill dirt to help level out the ground. So my dad found a place that wanted to get rid of a lot of their dirt and they would dump it at my parents for free.

Good deal!

It wasn't just dirt that got dumped though, there was a ton of these mixed in.

And this is just a small sample of what they uncovered.

 Some of these bottles are so old.

It's amazing that they are still in one piece.

Oh my GOSH! Don't throw them away, I want them!

So they saved them for me...Yay!

This was around Halloween and I thought they would be great for making little potion bottles.

I never got around to those, but I also thought they would be really cute for Christmas too!

Cleaning these gems was the hardest part.

I let them soak in soapy water and then washed the outside of them.

It was the inside that was HARD to clean! A toothbrush wouldn't fit, so I read that soaking them in Polydent or any denture cleaner would help loosen stubborn dirt and stains. So that and a bottle brush worked ok. They weren't perfect but that adds to their charm:)

~Tutorial for Vintage Christmas Bottles~

Gather your supplies:

*vintage bottle: (of course, any glass bottle would do)

*graphic: I picked out a cute piece of scrapbook paper at the craft store and cut out my image; you can find and print one online too

 *mod podge
*paintbrush
*damp paper towel
*clear fine glitter
*silver glitter paint
*embellishments; ribbons, bells, Christmas balls, anything!

Here's my graphic. Sweet little reindeer.

Paint the back of the graphic with a good coating of mod podge.

Place the graphic where you want it on the bottle, then coat the top of the graphic with another layer of mod podge.

While it is still wet, do a light sprinkling of clear fine glitter over the graphic. You can leave it plain also.

Now is a good time to take a damp paper towel and wipe any excess mod podge and glitter off the bottle.

I then outline the graphic in a bolder color glitter, depending on your picture you may want to use red, gold, green, silvery blue or pink!

Then I decided to fill the inside of my bottle with some Vintage Mica Snow. I wanted a sparkly effect. I've used artificial snow before and sometimes I leave them empty too.

A funnel made this step very easy. If it gets clogged and it will, just poke it with the end of your paintbrush.

After the glitter dries, you can add some of your pretty little touches to the neck of your bottle.

I chose this silver and blue fiber yarn from Martha Stewart that I picked up at Joann's.

That's it!

They don't take long at all and they can dress up a little vignette for Christmas!

There are so many different options, just have fun!

Hope you enjoy!

♥