The Secret to Writer’s Block: Art - Post Five

Distraction in a Bottle:

Holiday Edition

Using a Crafting Project to Provide the Necessary Distraction to Writer’s Block (Plus a Little Holiday Cheer)

Back in October, I posted part one of this project based post. The post was based on my need for to sometimes completely get my mind off of writing. I needed to find a project or activity to reboot my brain and put me in a more creative mood. Well, holiday time is no different! I so enjoyed the first round of this crafting project that I decided to take my own advice and come up with a couple of holiday versions as well in order to fully distract me from my writer’s block woes.

This project involves taking empty bottles and turning them into beautiful holiday art pieces for the home.

Here are the things that you will need:

• Bottles - you will need between 2 and 4 depending on what word or image that you want to feature. You can use lots of different size and shapes. Bottles with a high neck and those that are clear are easier to use (think white wine). For my project I used rum bottles that our local distillery had filled with hand sanitizer for hospitals and businesses around town.

• Paint & brush - Here’s where some of the creativity and fun begins. Pick your color palette and your theme. Having trouble finding your paint inspiration? I have included some ideas further below. Remember, the more complicated your idea, the more paint you have to buy (the Santa bottles only required three colors- I reused two of these for the “JOY” bottles). So, keep your color palette simple or use the same colors on multiple bottles - just in different ways. The 2 fl oz acrylic paint works great.

• Glue gun with glue sticks - to adhere all your fun little ideas to your bottles as well as your letters if you choose

• Speaking of letters: I choose to try stenciling this time around for the “JOY” bottles and instead went with just imagery for the Santa theme. For the “JOY” bottles, I purchased a pack of stencils that would give me the letters I needed and some theme shapes as well (snowflakes). You can find the link to the stencils I used at the end of the post. I am not great at free hand letters, so I went this route for a cleaner look. You could also use precut letters (3 inch works great), letter stickers, or free hand it. If you want black letters, just buy them black. Otherwise, go with white or light grey so you can modify with paint as desired.

• Decorative extras - and here’s the other fun part. You can get as creative as you want here. I will give you step-by-step instructions for the two themes in the pictures here as well as some other ideas to make the bottles your own.

So, when you have your supplies and are ready to get started, here are your steps to follow:

• Remove any labels and extraneous metal pieces from your bottles. Use wire cutters to remove any metal pieces (I recommend using gloves for safety here). Depending on the glue used on the labels, you may need to soak the bottles in soap and water. Usually dish soap and warm water will do the trick.

• Once your bottles are dry, start painting! You will need at least 3 coats (and for metal paints you will need more). Make sure that you paint the bottom of the bottles to facilitate light coming through if in front of a window or in case you have them on a shelf/ledge. Then paint any extra designs that you may want to incorporate (for example: the *** on the Santa bottles). If you are painting your letters, go ahead and paint those on as well.

• After all the paint is dry and set, then it’s time to decorate! For the “JOY” bottles, I used fake snow paint to add a little extra sparkle. The fake snow comes in a small container, but it goes a long way (I only used about 1/8 of the container for the amount that I painted on). I used a stencil from the same stencil pack as the letters to trace out an outline for the snowflakes with a pencil. I then used a paintbrush to dab on the snow to both cover the snowflakes and give the illusion of fresh snow. It adds a lot of texture and has some extra built in sparkle to highlight your pieces. I ended up using this same method on the “Santa” bottles to decorate the suits.

• Time to bust out the glue gun! For these two projects, I used a lot of what I already had lying around the house and then purchased a couple of extras to finish it off. Things I had at the house that you may need to purchase, or come up with alternatives: buttons (color and matching doesn’t matter as I painted mine anyways); ribbon (two colors- thick black and thick gold. Both I had taken off of of other gifts or packages from last year’s presents.). Other things I bought: the fake snow mentioned above; gold pipe cleaners; and small bells. All of the extras except for the fake snow were used on the Santa bottles. However, more paint colors were used on the “JOY” bottles. So pick a design that you like that also fits what you have in your craft kit or lying around the house. First I glued on all of the ribbons and then I followed up with the rest. Have fun with it!

I picked color schemes/themes to match my holiday home decor, but you can make it your own! Here are some other themes/ideas I had thought of:

• Choosing your word theme: I also thought about using the word/theme “ELF”, “NOEL”, or “SNOW”. Each lend themselves to different feelings and themes. Pick something that matches your personality, likes, or decor.

• Color themes: Try using combinations of flat colors with metallics. It’s a nice way to change the depth of your project and draw your eye to something shiny. Other themes I thought of: Tree Lights (paint on lights or paint bottles with a more sheer pain and put lights in the bottles); Presents (really cute ribbon would work great here); Ornaments (these could be painted in any color to match your tree or other decor)

• Characters: I think it would be really fun to incorporate holiday characters! The Grinch, Rudolph, and Charlie Brown would all lend themselves well to fun themes and color schemes. Try using their iconic clothes, sayings, or (if you are good at drawing), try painting an image instead.

Overall, I really enjoyed this distraction from writer’s block. It was fun to bring out my creative side with paint and glue instead of ink. It was also a nice project that I could start and stop as I wanted (I didn’t have to finish it all at once). It also helped to facilitate my writing because I could pick up the project each time I found myself stuck. Here are some of the supplies that helped me complete my project: (paid links by Amazon Associates)

I hope that these ideas help you to break through! 

Found a great source of inspiration that worked for you?  Let me know!

Still getting writer’s block?  Tell me how I can help!