Recently I made some shell-covered vintage bottles for my mom. We’d been admiring the expensive versions in the beachy boutiques for quite some time, and I could tell how much she wanted them. However, I knew I could create my own versions that were just as beautiful on the cheap.
After finding these bottles in various thrift and antique shops, I absolutely fell in love and knew I wanted to incorporate them more into my own decorating style. Their aged, hazy green-blue tinge was more beautiful to me than any crystal vase. Add a sprig of bouginvilla or a few wildflowers and you have a display that makes my beachy heart go pitter-patter.
And to my delight I discovered I wasn’t the only one. When I stumbled across these pictures I immediately filed them into my “Inspiration” folder. Then I promptly fell out of my chair in excitement as I drooled over their simplistic, vintage beauty:
From "A Beach Cottage" (one of my FAVORITE blogs!!)
From "Dreamy Whites" (another favorite!!)
- From “Eat, Drink, Chic”… Lovely
- From “Country Living”. Vintage bottles, twine, and wildflowers – perfection.
But as inspired as I was, I just couldn’t bring myself to pay up to $15 per bottle. Yikes. A gift for my mom is one thing, but I’m too cheap frugal to pay that much for my own home decor unless it’ll do the dishes for me. And the laundry. And a foot massage after pouring me a glass of Moscato would be nice.
What?
My love for vintage glass bottles went on the back burner for awhile. Until the hubs brought this home from the grocery store a few days ago:
He swiped one when I turned my back to grab the camera. Little booger…
Anyway, if you’ve never had an IBC – boy are you missing out!! ^_^ IBC Root Beer makes for the best Root Beer float on the planet. Their Cream Soda is pure creamy bliss, too. But more importantly than that, IBC has the most beautifully vintage-looking bottles I’ve seen… without actually being vintage.
So my mind went into overdrive trying to imagine how to give them that aged, tinted look that I loved so much about their much older counterparts. Inspiration finally struck as I was unscrewing the top to my ever-trusty bottle of Mod Podge. Here’s how you do it:
You also need an oven. I knew there was a reason I took the picture on the oven. Duh. Oh, and you need a mixing utensil, be it a paintbrush, a Popsicle stick, or coffee stirrer.
I think I should mention that this project can get a little messy, so have a sink and some paper towels handy. Or a hose if you decide to do it with a three-year-old (like I did).
step 1: Cover your work surface with the wax paper and preheat your oven to the lowest setting (200 degrees, in my case).
step 2: Choose a container large enough to hold your bottles. Pour your Mod Podge into the container. **NOTE: The deeper you fill the container, the easier it will be to get your bottles covered. But as cheap as I am, I tried to use only as much as I needed. It kills me to throw perfectly good crafting supplies away… I’m a pack rat that way.
step 3: Thin your Mod Podge down with a few tablespoons of water. You want it to be the consistency of the glue mixture you dipped shreds of newspaper in and covered balloons with in first grade. Helpful, right? (Notice the sarcasm there?) Sorry. It was the only thing I could think of to explain it. Hopefully more than three of you will understand what I’m talking about.
step 4: Whip out your green and blue food coloring. I went with three drops green and two drops blue, which gave me a very realistic vintagey color. However looking back on it, I would have put in a few more drops of blue (simply for my own turquoise-obsessed gratification).
step 5: Keep stirring until the Mod Podge is completely thinned and mixed. **NOTE: I apologize for the difference in colors in these pictures. I guess my camera has a hard time distinguishing between green and blue.
step 6: Place your bottles into the container.
step 7: Cover the lower half of your bottle by holding it by the neck and spinning the lower half in the mixture. **NOTE: I specifically did not brush the mixture onto the bottles because I was trying to make things as difficult for myself as possible make them look realistically vintage, and I felt that brush strokes would ruin the effect. However, if you don’t mind seeing faint lines on the finished product, the following process would probably be made much easier with a paint brush.
step 8: Let the messiness begin! Cover the neck of your bottle by (trying) to dip it and spin like you did in the previous step. This is a little difficult to do because the lower part of the bottle is now slick and hard to hold on to. Just cover as much as you can then continue on.
step 9: To cover the parts on the neck that may have been missed in the previous step, scoop some of the mixture onto your fingers and glob it on. Again, I didn’t use a paint brush on purpose here in order to avoid the brush stroke lines.
step 10: Keep spinning and globbing until your bottle is completely covered.
step 11: Stick your finger into the drinking hole to lift the bottle into an upright position, which will cover the bottom of the bottle with gloop. If you notice a bare spot, dip your fingertip into the mixture and dab it thickly on.
step 12: Like so. =}
step 13: Place all your Mod Podged bottles and glassware onto the wax paper to air dry for a few minutes. Wait until they’re a bit chalky in order to make them easier to handle.
step 14: Place your bottles and glassware into the oven for 30 to 45 minutes. **IMPORTANT NOTE: I simply grabbed the wax papered cookie tray and placed the entire thing (along with the bottles) into the oven. DO. NOT. DO. THIS!!!! Take the bottles OFF the wax paper and place them directly onto the rack inside the oven.
Why, might you ask?
Because if you don’t, this will happen:
Wait, you mean to tell me that Mod Podge is sticky like a glue and will adhere the bottles to the wax paper?! C’mon… really?
Yeah. Really.
I ended up having to throw this one away because I just could not peel the wax paper off the bottom. It was literally baked on. Bummer, because I had big plans (and a great tutorial) planned for this glass. Lesson learned… insert sad face here.
But even through the mishap, I’m very happy with how these turned out. My mom even scolded me for spending money on vintage bottles.
Pffff.
Me? Spend money? Yeah, no.
Thanks again for crafting with me, everyone! I’d love to hear what you think. I read each and every one of your comments, so feel free to ask if you need clarification on something.
Stay tuned for the Beachified Blue Bottle tutorial, coming tomorrow! Until then, happy crafting everyone!! ^_^
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This is so inventive. I have collected a lot of vintage bottle at flea markets. If they want more than $5 I just walk away. I can’t believe how much people want for these bottles sometimes!
megan
craftycpa.blogspot.com
Thanks, Megan!! I know, I’m aghast at the prices of these bottles, too. I found a very small one that fit inside the palm of my hand the other day at my local antique store. I was thinking it couldn’t be more than $3 (even that was expensive, I thought). I almost dropped it when I flipped it over and saw it was $8!!! That’s just not ok…
Love it! visiting from It’s So Very Cheri.
Thanks Heather!! ^_^ I wish i could afford the real thing, but this is working well for me. So far my “vintage” bottles have fooled quite a few people!! ^_- Gotta love that!!
Wow! these are sooo cool! I didn’t know u could put Mod Podge stuff in oven, they are beautiful
Thanks Lucy!! My husband was laughing that I’m extremely easy to please – bring me some flowering weeds in an old bottle and I’m happier than a girl with red roses and chocolate. Well, I’m not sure about the weeds part, but everything else is accurate. lol =]
Kewl idea…
Do not forget to add our linking it this party here http://www.passionatelyartistic.com/2011/06/beautiful-furniture-redo-pop-up-cards.html
Maggie
http://passionatelyartistic.com
Thanks, Maggie!! I’m proudly displaying your blinkie button on my site now. =] Thanks for the heads up about your party, and I’m honored to join it.
beachy beautiful!!!
Thanks Sibylle!! ^_^
I don’t know which I enjoyed more: The tutorial itself or the problem you had with the wax paper! Thanks for sharing this fun project!
Yeah, what can I say? I might not be blond, but I’m still a dopey California “Valley Girl”. Like, OH. MY. GOD.
Great tutorial!! I’m pinning a few of the pics! Thanks for the inspiration!!
Thank you so much, Jessica!! ^_^
Wow! I never would have thought of this method. It definitely made the bottles vintage. I love! Great job.
I would love for you to check out my giveaway for 2 canvas pillows, going on now! http://www.alittleknickknack.com. Happy 4th!
Thanks Meg!! I really wanted to do it this way so that I could use my new “antique” bottles as vases for various flowers growing around our home. I’m thrilled to hear how much you like it and will be right over to check out your giveaway (canvas – you know the way to my heart!!). ^_^
So inventive post! Loved it!
Stunning space you got here and very unique! Hope to see you on my site:)
Have a great week!
I LOVE this tutorial! I cant wait to try it, did I mention I love it!
great job!
Awww, thank you so much, Cindy!! I can’t wait to hear how it goes (and feel free to email me some pictures because I feel like one proud mama!!) =}
amazing! thanks for sharing! new follower here
Thanks Rheanna, and I’m thrilled to have you as a follower!! ^_^
I’d say good investment, excellent achievement. They look great!
Thank you so much, Carolyn!! =]
Love your bottles and the color you used. I had to chuckle at the wax paper – that is so something I would do
Thanks for the warning!
^_- Great minds think alike, right Mimi? Honestly, it never even crossed my mind that the glue-like substance I was using would stick to anything. Duh. lol.
They look awesome. I guess I’ll be shopping for some Root Beer in a bottle soon. Good excuse!
Health food stores are a great place to go. I went to my local health food store on a hunt for something completely unrelated, and to my delight they had an entire pyramid of old-timey soda bottles on display (and on sale) for the Fourth of July. Good luck, and thanks Michelle!! =]
The tutorial, sarcasim and pictures are great. I love your honesty that sometimes not everything goes perfectly. The bottles look great!! I love this idea!!
Thank you, Maridith!! I keep telling the hubs that I’m going to get Murphy’s Law tattooed on my… well, let’s just say that anything that can possibly go wrong in my life usually does. But it’s given me a very dry sense of humor about everything, so it’s not all bad, I guess.
Super tutorial! Read every last word. You are one funny gal! Thanks for the great idea!
Oh, stop it Lesley, you’re making me blush. lol. ^_^ Thanks for reading!!
What a clever idea, Nicole -and a great tutorial!! Your bottles turned out so pretty!
xoxo laurie
Thank you so much, Laurie!! I guess being
cheapcreative has it’s benefits. =}Love these bottles!! I read the post but might have missed whether you stated if you could wash these since the paint was sort of baked on. Would love to make some of these for a cool metal tray I found this weekend.
bee blessed
mary
Hi Mary!! Unfortunately, I don’t think these bottles can be washed, since Mod Podge is a water-based product. The few drips of colored Mod Podge that I accidentally got inside the bottles washed off within a few minutes of putting water in them (when I used them as flower vases). But don’t despair, as I’m now on the lookout for something more permanent, and will let you know when I find it!! ^_^