What To Do With All Those Fabulous Wine Bottles and Beer Bottles

It's been a while folks, hasn't it? I'm still digesting the fact that my Mom is gone, at least physically, but I'm coping now. I've done a lot of crocheting in the interim, but that is a post (or three or four) for another time.

Right now I want to tell you what I do with all those wine bottles with beautiful artistic labels, that I can't seem to throw out. Have you really looked at the artwork that goes into the labels of some wines? Some are clean and sophisticated, others have come from original drawings and paintings. And recently, even beer bottles have made it into my collection!

I do a variety of things with these labels, but today I'm gonna talk about home decor. For real! Smaller wine bottles make really nice bud vases for a single stemmed rose. Especially those sweet dessert wines. They usually come in small bottles with really nicely-done artistic labels. Perfect for a bud vase.

And the first beer bottle in my collection is right in the middle of two little wine bottles. And I think that beer bottle matches the clock pretty darn well! And as it happens, it was brewed right down I-5 in Eugene. Overcast Espresso Stout by Oakshire Brewing. YUM! Who says you can't mix wine and beer?

And now my nod to the USA's July 4th holiday. Red, white and blue, huh? How am I gonna pull that off? With cats and flags! For real!

Originally these cool cats held reisling. And they actually have a 4th litter mate, a black dude that comes out for Chinese New Year. I drank my way through all 4 bottles just to make sure I had the complete set! And then I added little flags with some sort of sticky putty stuff and some bows at the neckline, and they're ready for the dining room table, or anywhere else you want to catch people's eye.

Stay tuned to my blog for more frequent articles on a wider variety of crafty issues!

The Making of a Doll Bed

OK, so is this doll bed cute or what? It was a special birthday present for a special little girl's 5th birthday recently. We made it from a little 'Cuties orange' box, paint stirrer sticks, and leftover fabric. The only thing I bought was some acrylic paint in lavender, pink, and white. And I still have a ton of leftover paint!  Now I wish I could take credit for this idea, but alas, the idea came from a Martha Stewart show.  I'll post a link at the bottom of this article.

So the first thing I did was score a Cuties orange box from my bff who was on the lookout for one for me. She darn near tackled a produce guy for it! Then I had my hubby get me some paint stirrer sticks, which you can get for free from paint departments in those monster-sized home improvement stores. And then I had my hubby prime the box and paint stirrer sticks.

So far this project is working out ok for me, huh? I then glued a couple paint stirrer sticks to the primed base at the head and foot of the bed, using wood glue. This provides a good stable base for gluing the headboard and footboard to the bed.  And since this part of the bed will never show, you don't have to worry about color here.

The only thing I would have done differently is to prime the bed frame white, since we ended up painting the it white in the end.  Covering the gray primer took a few coats of acrylic paint! Oh, and I'd probably try using spray paint next time too. It would go much quicker I think.

And while I was coating these puppies with white paint, and waiting for the paint to dry, I started on a simple reversible quilt with matching pillow, and a dust ruffle. The girl's favorite colors are pink and purple, so pink and purple it was!

Now, since I had two different sizes of paint stirrer sticks, I chose to place the large ones in the four corners, and have them raised up high enough to make a canopy (And fyi, Martha didn't have a canopy!) for this deluxe doll bed. I chose to skip the whole mattress part, but Martha did make a nice covered mattress in her version. And all of the bedding is washable. You just pull it off the bed and throw it into the machine!

Then the little girl's mom thought some stencils in pink and purple would be really cute on the headboard and footboard. So I dug out my stencils for her, we taped the headboard and footboard together with painter's tape, I poured us each a glass of wine, and I said, "Go for it!" And she did. And it was very cute!  Don't ya think?

 

 

Then we glued the headboard and footboard to the base of the bed with a lot of wood glue. I even put a heavy book on there while it was drying, just to make sure it never comes apart.

 

 

 

Then all I had to do was create a canopy that matched the dust ruffle. I narrow hemmed a rectangle, added eyelet trim to the edges, and ribbon ties at the corners to attach it to the bed posts.

 

 

And there you have it. A really cute doll bed which actually just barely fits a Barbie. And it really was a fun project to do with a friend, for her daughter's 5th birthday.

 

 

 

http://www.marthastewart.com/892402/doll-bed