As you may have seen from past blog posts or my social media, I love to do craft projects both big and small. Since you may have some time on your hands, I figured you might need a quick and easy craft project. Plus, you may have a lot of these items already around the house!

In my case, I have a few of these bottles that we use for water when we’re having people over for dinner or parties. They are a perfect size and if you’re going somewhere, they’re great because of their tops. The bottles are relatively inexpensive at IKEA, but you can also spend a little more and get one filled with tasty lemonade. Instead of recycling, upcycle them for use. Today I’m going to show you how to dress one up a little. I chose a beach theme because it’ll fit in well with my new house, but you can substitute other items for the decoration, like small flowers, beads, etc.

Dressing Up a Water Bottle

Materials:

Cord/Twine. I used some jute I had hanging around, but you can use cotton cord as well.
1 bottle
Seashells and/or flowers
Glue and/or Glue Gun
Scissors
Craft supplies

Directions:

I have a 16-inch tall bottle so I cut the cord into two 32 inch pieces. The length of the cord will depend on the length of your bottle.

Tie the cord around the neck of the bottle. You will have 4 cords hanging down. Two will be filler cords at the center of your knots. The outside two cords are the ones you will use to make the macrame knots.
Craft supplies

You are going to do a basic macrame knot – the square half knot. This is one of the easiest knots to do and you can use it to make bracelets and other projects. The thing to keep in mind is that you need to alternate between left and right-facing knots in order to keep the design from swirling.

The best way to describe the knot is to think of it as a figure eight with one cord going over the two filler cords and the other under it. For the right-facing half-knot the cord on the right will go over the filler cords. For the left-facing half-knot the cord on the left will go over the filler cords.
macrame half knots

Repeat the alternating left and right-facing half-knots until you get to the length you desire.

When you reach your desired length, it’s time for the glue. You can use something like E6000 Clear which is a great glue for more permanent bonding. Because of time constraints, I used a glue gun.

Spread glue down the back of the macrame knots and hold it to the bottle, being sure to center the knots. If you’re using the E6000 glue, you may need to tack the cord down with masking tape until the glue dries completely. Also, glue down the loose unknotted cords for another inch or so. You are going to cover these with your decorations.

It’s time for the seashells. I always collect shells on the beach for my projects and these are some from my collection. I love the swirly one – a moon shell – and often find them along the beach. If you don’t have shells you can substitute flowers, silk or dried, buttons, beads. Anything that suits your fancy.

seashells

Place glue on the backs of the shells and arrange them over the unknotted cords. The glue gun will work more quickly than the E6000 glue and again, if using the glue, you may need to hold each one in place for a few seconds until it holds.

And that’s it! You’re done! I may add a few small beads amongst the shells for color, but otherwise, I kind of like how the bottle came out.

decorated water bottle