Old Buttons and Lace

 This is a quick and easy project that can be made with leftover fabric scraps, lace, old jewelry, buttons, and empty bottles.  It took only minutes to make (really) and I love the touch of beauty it adds to my home.  The inspiration for this project came from decorated vintage bottles I've seen for sale on Etsy. However, since I didn't have any vintage bottles, and since I was going to cover the whole thing up anyway, I hit the recycle stack under my kitchen sink.

I don't know about you, but since my glass recycle is only picked up once a month it tends to pile up down there.  Not only that, but I often miss that one day a month in my hurry to get everything hauled up to the top of my driveway just in the knick of time (I DO tend to put trash hauling off until the last minute!)! and there never seems to be enough time to go looking for that silly recycling schedule.  But, LUCKY ME, in my sticky stash I found all kinds of cool glass bottles . . . a tall, skinny champagne vinegar bottle, some interestingly exotic salad dressing bottles, even a simple Mason jar . . . but the one I chose for this project was a maple syrup bottle. 

 

So I know, the bottle in the picture below does look a little full, but once again I started cutting and pasting before snapping any pictures.  I was lucky enough to find a bottle in my pantry that was almost exactly the same shape.

Soooo . . . the first step, of course, was to cover it in chalk paint!  You can check out my favorite homemade chalk paint recipe HERE.



After painting I used the sanding sponge to distress it and show a few details of the bottle.

 I decided to add some leftover beads for a little peak of color & interest at the bottom of the bottle.

Around the neck of the bottle I tied some "ribbon" which consisted of pieces of bias tape and organza torn in strips . . . which I wrapped, knotted and artfully draped (Ha!)

Next I started randomly wrapping the bottle with leftover bits of lace, fabric, and some pre-made rosettes, glue-gunning as I went along. You can buy pre-made rosettes at craft stores or make your own. Below are pictures of some similar rosettes I made at an earlier date:

Hem tape or bias tape

Sheer fabric such as organza

I rolled and sewed the tape to a square of fabric instead of using a glue gun since this is so small and I don't really like the feel of hot glue on my fingers.  I also wanted the frayed edges of the fabric showing beyond the rosette.  For a complete tutorial on making burlap rosettes (a similar process but with a glue gun) you can go to the link here.

Just keep on wrapping until you have the size you want and then trim the sheer fabric into a circle shape around the rosette. I left about 1/2" showing and purposely frayed it up a bit.

  I kept adding a strip of fabric here and a strip of fabric there until I was satisfied with how it looked and then I added some random pieces of old jewelry and a few buttons.

To top it off, I printed a piece of sheet music off the computer, dipped it in a little tea to "age" it and added a touch of gold Rub 'n Buff to the edges of the paper.  Then I rolled it up and voila!  For vintage music or any other type of graphic printables The Graphics Fairy is the place to go.

So what do can you do with a decorated old bottle?  Some people write out their blessings on pieces of paper and put them in bottles to be read at the end of the year.  Maybe there is someone you're thankful for.  You could write out all the ways you appreciate them on strips of paper, place them inside the bottle, and give it to them as a gift.  I think it would make a great Mother's Day gift.  

 



Soooo . . . go ahead and dig through that recycle barrel before you send it away. You never know what kind of OLD THINGS you might have that could be made over into something NEW!

II Cor. 5:17 " . . . old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new".

Many blessings to you,

 

Patti

 

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