An Easy Craft to Light Up Your Life

When we were out in Colorado over Thanksgiving, we had an overnight visit with one of my husband's younger sisters.  (In fact, it was at her house that we watched Notre Dame beat USC--the win that guaranteed their spot in the national championship game in Miami in January!)

My sister-in-law and her family had just moved to the Denver area, after living in California for the eight years she'd been married, and now they're a mere hour-and-15 minute-drive away from our oldest son and his family.

My sister-in-law's house is absolutely lovely, and it has many decorative touches that are worthy of copying, if you're an inveterate copycat like me.   Most of us are copycats, though--aren't we?  I'm sure that's why Pinterest has become such a phenomenon.  And I've heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so...Anyhoo, my sister-in-law, who used to live near wine country on the West Coast, had the neatest thing on one of the counters in her kitchen.  It was a wine bottle filled with white Christmas lights, with raffia wrapped around the mouth of the bottle and tied in a bow, and a wine cork and a little bit of faux greenery attached to the raffia.  A California friend had made it for her as a gift, and I'm sure it has a lot of sentimental value for her (the wine bottle was probably from one of the local vineyards she'd visited during her time as a California resident).  I should have taken a picture of it--it was simply lovely.

When we returned from our trip out west, I was determined to copy my sister-in-law's little wine bottle lamp, and I went through our vast wine collection to look for a suitable bottle--but alas, we had only two bottles in stock (which is about par for the course), both Merlots in dark green bottles.  So I went to the grocery store and chose a Pinot Grigio, because it had a clear glass bottle, and told my husband we were going to split a bottle of wine to celebrate our safe travels home.  That would have been a great idea if I was a real wine drinker; but unless I'm in just the right mood, I have trouble drinking more than about half a glass.  And I wasn't in the right mood, unfortunately, on the night I wanted us to finish a bottle at one sitting!  I did my best, and my husband picked up the slack, and finally we had an empty bottle for my project.

All you have to do for this craft is clean out the wine bottle and let it dry, stuff a strand of 20-25 white Christmas lights inside it, and add a ribbon--or raffia, if you'd prefer--to the mouth of the bottle (tying the cord in place in the process).  It's so cute, and so festive (especially at Christmastime)--and so easy!

The one thing I would do differently is next time, I would use a bottle with a smaller label on it.  This one features a picture of a knight in shining armor, which I thought looked very cool; but the label ended up blocking the lights, so I had to turn the bottle a bit to the side to get the best effect.  Also, I used a battery-operated light set, but the plug-in variety would work just as well.

I LOVE this lit-up wine bottle so much, I want to make several more to have in different areas of the kitchen...but I'm not that big a fan of wine, as I've told you...and it seems wrong to buy a bottle of wine and pour it down the drain just because I'm feeling crafty...but perhaps if it's a cheap bottle of wine, I could live with myself...

Maybe I should just inform the wine connoisseurs I know that I'm in the market for their empties!