Over-The-Top Fairy Lamp

Hi Everyone,

Finally, I put an old purchase to good use.

Do you ever go to garage sales or GoodWill and purchase something you want to fix up?  I sometimes have the habit of purchasing things I know have potential, but then...it takes a while for a plan to form.

This sad lamp called out to me, along with another nice looking lamp, at a furniture store that was having a clearance event. 
One lamp did not need any work (although I really want to transfer some images onto the shade and that will be a cool future project...) but the other lamp was an eye sore.  Functional, but NOT PRETTY.  I love a challenge, so I bought both lamps.  Away I went, my head full of ideas.

Well, like I have said before, I am a terrible procrastinator, so this lamp sat around my house for about a year (my husband was a little bit annoyed) before the light bulb turned on (pardon the pun) with the perfect plan.  ... MuWaHahahaha (crazy crafting laughter)...I realized that my daughter would love a girly, Fairy Lamp in her room!

My kitchen table was occupied by another crafting project, so I set up my work area in my bedroom where my tools could really spread out.  With my trusty hot temp glue gun in hand (I could build a house with a glue gun), lots of ribbon, flowers, vines and fairy images, away we went.  Several types of ribbon were attached to the edges of the shade and then I added flowers.  The fairies are from a fairy activity book, cut out from the cover so that they are sturdy.  The vines and flowers were wound around the base of the lamp in a very whimsical fashion.

Quick Tip-  Whenever I am at the craft store and I see silk flowers or ribbon on sale, I buy them and store them.  My projects are almost always impromptu creations, so I like to keep plenty of supplies on hand.

The lamp is over the top, because, well, why the heck not?  My daughter is 5 and I wanted her to feel like it is a part of her Fairy World set up.  Very soon I will post a tutorial on how to build a fairy house and fairy furniture.

Don't be afraid to breathe new life into an old item and dream big!

Happy Crafting,

Tutorial Tuesdays- How to Make a Wine Bottle Votive

Ever wonder what to do with your empty wine and liquor bottles?  Sure you can put them in the recycling bin, but some bottles are so pretty, you don't want to throw them out.  I am going to show you how to put those lovely bottles to good use!

All you need is: a bottle cutter (I am currently using the G2 bottle cutter), a pot of boiling water, a large bowl of ice cold water, glass paint and an LED votive (I ordered my LEDs online)

I am going to upload a video demonstrating the glass cutting technique we use tomorrow, but I will also outline it here:

Quick Tip:  You can use candles with wine bottle votives, BUT, you have to have a small hole at the bottom of the bottle to let air in, or a vacuum is created and the candle will not stay lit.  If you have a candle in the wine bottle, the bottle becomes extremely hot, VERY FAST.  I prefer LEDs to avoid the heat.

First, wash your bottle and remove the labeling after soaking the bottles in hot water. It helps to use one of those green scrub sponges and rub the labels off.  Some of them will come right off.  For the labels that are really sticky, remove all the paper you can with your rough sponge and then dry it off and take Duck Tape to remove the remaining adhesive.  You just wind some tape around your fingers and tap and pull on the bottle.  Do not use a knife to remove the adhesive.  Acetone does not seem to do much good either.

If you are ready to cut your bottle, get a large pot of boiling water going. It needs to be a full rolling boil. Right beside it, get a large bowl of ice cold water ready.  It helps to have ice cubes floating around the bowl.  Have extra ice on hand!  You are stressing the glass so it will break evenly, so really hot and really cold water, both, are necessary.

Adjust your bottle cutter so that the sharp scoring edge sits where you would like it to sit.  You can take the bottom off the bottle OR you can take off the top, whichever you prefer.  I like cutting the bottom as it is more unique to keep the shape of the wine bottle.

The top arm swivels and moves up and down

When you score the bottle, score LIGHTLY.  You do not want to re-trace your score line or make it too deep, that will make the bottle crack unevenly when you stress it in the water.  You will hear a soft scoring sound as you turn the bottle against the sharp cutter.  Hold the bottle with the cutter attached in one hand (keeping the plug in the top of the bottle) and with the other hand, turn the bottle firmly against the scoring tool, twisting it slowly around.

This is a close up of the sharp scoring blade

To help make sure you do not overtrace your score line, mark your bottle with a sharpie to show where the score line starts and mark a line just before your start line.  When you are turning the bottle, it is difficult to see the start line and you do NOT want to go past it.

Once it is scored, dip your bottle in the boiling water for 10 - 20 seconds.  Take it out and dip it in the cold water for 10-20 seconds and keep doing this, back and forth, until the bottom of the bottle pops off. When you have a great score line, it literally pops right off and the edges of the bottle are smooth!

Right now, I have my wonderful husband scoring my bottles as he has the strength to hold the bottle firmly while twisting it against the cutter.  I am able to score a bottle, but have a hard time not re-tracing my score lines.   I am breaking 7 out of every 10 bottles, lol, but the ones that work out look so cool!

Check out my video to see the LED light in action after I decorate my bottle. 

Watch how I learned to cut a glass bottle. 

I will do a glass painting tutorial very soon...

Happy Crafting!