How To Make Some Cool Simple Christmas Bottle Lights
I just love it at Christmas when the house twinkles, with all the lovely Christmas lights on those dark cold winter nights. Last week I made some cute led mini Pine Cone Christmas trees and this week I’ve added some lovely Christmas bottle lights to my illuminations.
Before when you wanted to put lights into a bottle you had to drill a hole into the glass, which you can imagine wasn’t easy. Well, the other day I discovered an amazing product, cork bottle led lights. No need for drilling anymore just simply drop the string of led lights through the neck of the bottle and the batteries are stored in the cork.
Once I discovered these lights, the whole craft became really easy. They are cheap too! Which is great as it now means that I can have loads of these Christmas bottle lights around my home adding to that lovely Christmasy twinkly feeling.
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What you need to Make Christmas Bottle Lights
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- Empty glass bottles- You can use wine bottles, spirit bottles, and even soda bottles. Just choose the ones you like the shape of. Personally, I like the little tonic water bottles.
- Empty glass bottles- You can use wine bottles, spirit bottles, and even soda bottles. Just choose the ones you like the shape of. Personally, I like the little tonic water bottles.
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- Christmas foam shapes (adhesive) – These are normally readily available in craft and pound/dollar stores at this time of year.
If you have a die cutting machine you can, of course, cut your own Christmas shapes.
- Christmas foam shapes (adhesive) – These are normally readily available in craft and pound/dollar stores at this time of year.
How to make Christmas Bottle lights
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- Firstly soak the bottles in hot water soapy to remove all lables and residue from the outside. Then leave to dry thourhly.
- Firstly soak the bottles in hot water soapy to remove all lables and residue from the outside. Then leave to dry thourhly.
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- Next stick the foam Christmas shapes onto the bottles where you would like the light to shine through.
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- Spray paint the bottles, with 2 coats of paint letting each dry in between. Once the paint has dried, carefully remove the foam stickers.
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- Now the bottles are ready for the cork lights. To make my lights look more festive I covered the cork in Christmas washi tape.
- Now the bottles are ready for the cork lights. To make my lights look more festive I covered the cork in Christmas washi tape.
I told you they were simple to make. If you want to make more fancy Christmas scenes. You can either cut your own foam shape design or use a die cutting machine.
I used my die cutting machine to cut some intricate birch trees and used this to create a lovely winter scene on an old bourbon bottle.
I think that these lights would make a lovely Christmas gift, you can use bottles of different shapes and spray paint them different colours. A Christmas bottle light made from an old Whisky bottle would look great in a mancave.
They also make lovely night lights at Christmas, my son wants one for his room.
Since making these lights I have made a Halloween version of the bottle lights which you can see here.
If you like to make Christmas crafts with lights then you will probably like the LED Deer Head I made last year.
If you are looking for more illuminated holiday decorations then why not check out allfreechristmascrafts.com.
Cecilia
Love these, Claire! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm–pinned!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, Cecilia and thanks for the share.
Lins @ Boo & Maddie
If I went round my neighbours and raided all their recycling bins as well as ours I could probably light my entire house this way. Such a clever idea, thank you for linking up to #HomeEtc X
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, Lins.
Amber Harrop
These are lovely Claire I especially love the birch trees
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, that’s my favourite too!
Alicia Owen
These are awesome! And more simple than I was thinking they would be to make upon first glance. 🙂 Thanks for sharing on This is How We Roll link up.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, Alice.
Jelica
In a word? Brilliant. Just brilliant. Loved every bit of this craft. Going to have to do this at home – thanks for sharing!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you. It is really easy to do and so many possibilities.
Sara
Thank you so much for posting about this! I have been wanting to make these for years but didn’t want to deal with cutting or drilling into bottles! These cork lights are the key! Can’t wait to try it!
Claire Armstrong
Same here, I wanted to make bottle lights but couldn’t face the glass cutting. Thank you 😊
Katie
Love this idea! Can’t wait to try it!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, good luck with it.
Jen @ Jenron-Designs
These bottles turned out so cute. I think I want to make some mason jar luminaries for the patio. Thank you for such great detailed tutorial so we can re-create this look.
Claire Armstrong
These would make lovely patio lights. I like the idea of Mason jar lights too!
Vicky myers
What a find!!! Particularly love your birch trees – I may put a die cut machine on my Christmas list:)
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, I was really excited when I found those lights. I like my die cutting machine is just a simple Sizzix Big Shot, but I wouldn’t say it was an essential crafting tool. I don’t use it that often, but I think that is more to do with the kind of crafts I like to do.
Michelle
Whaaaatttt!!!! Those cork string lights are just brilliant Claire. I need to get some of those and I love how your bottle lights turned out. They look amazing. The one with the birch trees is my favorite
Claire Armstrong
Thanks Michelle, yes the birch tree is my favourite too!
Julie
What a brilliant idea and a great find with those cork lights. I think I need to go through the recycling bin before it is collected on Wednesday morning, see if we have any interestingly shaped bottles.
Claire Armstrong
They do make lovely lights round the house and are so easy to move around.
Chris Dodsley @made by ChrissieD
What a great idea, didn’t know about these cork battery lights, now I just have to get some 😀 Dropping by from #HandmadeMonday
Claire Armstrong
Thank you! I was so excited when I discovered the cork lights.
Natalie
These are gorgeous – and so simple to make! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Claire Armstrong
Thank you!