Starbucks and No Bucks!

This project was featured on One Pretty Thing.


Still looking for a gift for mom? Want one that gives you something yummy and then costs nothing? Want something that upcycles? Want one that's included in this week's trash to treasure over at Reinvented? Can't get much more specific than that. How about:

I am not a huge coffee freak or even a Starbucks advocate but occasionally they just sound soooo good. Especially when you find a four-pack of raspberry dark chocolate at the Grocery Outlet for $1.99. *Squeals in delight*

If you don't have a Grocery Outlet in your area, you have my total sympathy.

Once I was done drinking them I couldn't seem to just toss the glass into the recycling. They have a semi-old-fashioned milk bottlish shape that just screamed "vase" to me. Oh don't worry, it didn't literally scream at me, that was probably just my nerves after all that coffee.

Problem: the label residue. I know I was just complaining about that but seriously! Why does it have to be SO sticky and why can't I find my Goo-Gone?! Rubbing alcohol didn't work either. Neither did a container of bug and tar remover that looked like it was from the '70's. So how did I get it off?

Coca Cola and razor knife.

Yeah!

And I swear this isn't a product placement post. Actually my brother suggested it when I was telling him my sticky residue woes. He's a smarty! I poured a little of the Coke into a bowl, dipped the razor knife into it and scraped the residue right off. And yet this didn't deter me from drinking the rest of the can....

Now to embellish. I had this idea in my head to use a lovely patterned vellum I have as a background and then print a little label - I have printer ink again! Yay!!! - and glue that over the top and add some ribbon. So I went with a black and white theme and did just that. Let me just say that vellum really doesn't want to be glued to a non-flat glass surface. It doesn't want to really stick to glass at all, but somehow I tacked it down enough to stay. To keep it secure I added ribbon around the edges. And then you get:

Simple, yes, but sometimes less is more! And the flowers I was using for props were some that I made in this post.

Since I had so many of these bottles to work with I wanted to try something I saw over at Thrifty Decor Chick - the jute covered bottle. This one is considerably more time consuming but still has a great effect.

First I applied tacky glue directly to the bottle. Then, starting in the back, I wound the jute around and around. When I reach the place I wanted the label I stopped, applied the label and then kept going until it looked right to me.

So easy I made it while I was cooking dinner.

Of course after all that there was dinner clean up and I wasn't up to trying any more styles, but I still have a few bottles left and a couple labels I didn't get to use. We'll see if I can come up with anything else. I think a matching trio would be really nice...

If you'd like to make your own you are welcome to use the labels I created. Just follow the links below, right click and save the photos to your own computer, and then be sure to resize them to fit your needs. Have fun!

Sweet Blossoms

Natural Beauty

Blooming Beauty

Stop and Smell