Zarah- Altered Bottle Holder

We have this tradition in my family. Every year, around X-mas and my dad's birthday, he says that he doesn't want anything at all. Every year, he means it a little less. You see, my sister and I both always get him a bottle of whiskey. We try to make it different kinds every time, because he's very happy about trying whiskeys and he's quite the collector. ;)

Now, as I'm not exactly the richest gal on the block, I can't afford some fancy schmancy kind of drink - but what I CAN do, is to package it in a way that'll defnitely make it stand out and be a treasured gift, still.

I've gone bargain shopping at Scrapbook Outlet Online for this - and you can find most everything in there!

Be sure to follow the links in the "supplies list."

Personalize Bottle Holder

by Zarah Peterson

SUPPLIES

Creative Imaginations Bare Elements rick wine container

My Mind's Eye - Our Princess Fresh Flowers
My Mind's Eye - Cousins Little Blossom / Blue Polka Dot Paper
My Mind's Eye - All Star Starburst / Green Deco Paper (I've used both sides of this paper)
My Mind's Eye - Sweet Baby Girl Hello Baby / Miss Sunshine Paper
My Mind's Eye - So Handsome Frame
My Mind's Eye - Boys Only Frame
Flowers from Prima Marketing
Wire words "Celebrate" from Making Memories
Alpha by Mustard Moon
Random stuff:
Miscellaneous: lace, ribbon, no-name Prima-knock-off-leaves, raindots, pearls, scrappers floss, eyelets, stars cut from a no-name felt ribbon, buttons, brown ink

HOW TO:
First, I removed the silk ribbon that was originally the closure. Nothing wrong with it, but it's hard to get the paper to stick around it.  Plus - I wanted to go with another colour scheme.

I cut strips of paper to overlap and cover the entire container. I left a small gap in the back to make sure it opens easily. This means that I've cut two pieces of each paper, trying to get the patterns to continue seamlessly as far as possible.

I've roughed the edges up with an edgescraper (and added ink to them), and I've made scallops by tracing a piece of Bazzill and cutting it out.

The yin-yang pieces on the top (and inside) are easily made by tracing the outlines.

When all the pieces were cut out, I mounted them on top of each other and stuck a piece of lace in there as well.

I added the papers to the container, and made sure there were no bubbles or crooked lines.

Then I added the overlay. I cut it in halves, diagonally, and glued it down. Then I inked the edges of the frame, cut that as well, and added that on top.

After this, I made holes for the ribbon to slide through, and added them.

The label for the bottle is made using scraps from the container. I punched holes for eyelets and there's a string in the back, holding it in place around the bottle. It can be easily moved (or removed) to reveal the original ettiquette underneath.

I spelled out "Whisky ´09" (meaning: he'll get a Scottish whiskey this year, not an Irish Whiskey... and ALL because I ran out of e's!! *grins*) as a tiny joke...

After this was all done, I added the embellishments and...

Voila!!

Your very own, personalized bottle holder!

Zarah- October Afternoon

This layout is about how the apple sometimes is VERY happy to be falling pretty close to the tree...

My mother was a very special person, and the journaling says:

"If all I ever succeed in, in life, is to be a bit like you... Then I've reached my goal!"

SUPPLIES
White and black (and a TINY bit of brown) Bazzill

October Afternoon papers, from the gorgeous Cherry Hill collection
Alphas from Musterd Moon and Making Memories
Grungeboard by Tim Holtz/Ranger
Flowers & leaves from Prima The black blower that I stamped on the cream Prima, is by American Crafts, the Thanks-set
Apple chipboard from American Crafts. I've altered it slightly, adding a small rose leaf that I cut up and a stem of brown Bazzill
Wing ghostshapes made with white ink on regular overlays, and the stamps are from Heidi Swapp
Other, random stuff from my drawers:
Scrappy Floss by Karen Foster, no name buttons and pins, black brads, red staplers, lace, black raindrop and one KaiserCraft pearl.


HOW TO
The layout is basically just made with layers of the wonderful 8x8-papers from October Afternoon. With the squared one, I've cut it off beneath the apple-patterned paper and used the strip to make it seem longer than it really is.

All the edges are scraped with a pair of scissors, and then inked.

The dictionary print paper is torn on one edge, and scalloped on another. I've used a piece od scallop edges Bazzill to get that shape. I just traced, and then cut it out.

The tag is just a piece of white Bazzill that I've rounded the corners of, and stamped with a stamp from the Thanks-collection by American Crafts.

The arrow is simply a piece of a spinner from Cosmo Cricket. You can easily make your own by cutting one from Bazzill and mounting it on 3d-dots for height, adding a push-button to the center. (Or layer Bazzill to get faux chipboard.)

For the frame, I stamped a 3x3 Wedding Frame by American Crafts on a piece of overlay plastic, and cut it out.

I marked the text below with a green Memory Marker, that's also made by American Crafts.

The silver heart is just a raw piece of grungeboard with two layers of glue and "white" glitter by Making Memories.