Craft Challenge Tutorial: Plastic Bottle Flowers

My friend and blog buddy, Teena, from Serendipitini, recently suggested that we have a little crafting challenge. Since I am always up for a new project (and can't resist a good challenge) I agreed.

The objective - Transform one or more plastic bottles into a cool craft. Seems easy enough.

After a little experimenting, I finally decided to make water bottle flowers. These make cute decorations for the garden. You could even enlist the help of your young crafters.

Materials

• empty plastic water bottles
• scissors
• acrylic paint
• paintbrush
• 16 gauge floral stem wire
• Mod Podge (optional)

Directions

	Start by removing the label from your bottles. You can leave the caps on for now.
	Next, use a sharp pair of scissors to cut around the top ring of the bottle.
	You are just going to use the top portion of the bottle. Recycle the rest.
	For a five petaled flower, make five, evenly spaced cuts from the cut edge to as close to the spout as possible. Tip: You can make flowers with more petals by making up to 8, evenly spaced cuts in this manner.
	Fold down the petals, almost like you are turning the bottle inside out.
	Use a scissors to round off the edges of each petal.
	Remove the bottle cap, but do not throw it away. If there is still a thin ring on your bottle that held the cap in place, remove it as well. Tip: If there is any printing on the bottle, like a freshness date, it can be removed with a cotton ball and a little nail polish remover.
	Set the flower on a protected surface, spout up. The petals should curve up like little cups. Apply one or two coats of acrylic paint to the petals. I used three colors. Yellow at the center of the flower.
	Light purple in the middle and dark purple on the tips.
	If you use more than one color, like I did, make sure that each section of paint is completely dry before you add the next color or they will get smeared up. Let the paint dry. To seal your paint and add water resistance for outdoor use, I also recommend adding a coat of Mod Podge after the paint dries.
	Replace the cap. There should be a small gap between the lid and the bottle where the protective ring used to be.
	To make the stem, wrap an end of the floral wire tightly around the gap beneath the lid.
	Straighten out the stem and place your flowers in a pot or the garden.

A Final Note - Make sure to help younger crafters with the cutting in this project. The curved plastic bottles can be tricky and the cut edges are a bit sharp. Also, if you don't feel adventurous or have the time to let three colors of paint dry, it's fine to use a single color.

Stay tuned, because on Wednesday I'll be sharing pictures of Teena's project and you won't want to miss it. Happy Crafting!