Wine Bottles Day #2!

Let’s put empty wine bottles to good use! You may enjoy collecting them or just recycling, but here you will find some ideas for creative uses for your bottles.

Create mosaics for décor

With broken glass from colorful wine bottles, you can design patio tiles by placing the glass arbitrarily in wet cement, or you can create any artwork your imagination desires! You may want to place the glass in a rock tumbler for a while to smooth out sharp edges, before your start working with them.

Replace a pitcher

Wine bottles are often reused in Europe, even in restaurants, to serve water or carbonated water. The bottles are attractive and take up less space than a pitcher.

Rolling tool for your kitchen

Take a clean wine bottle, remove the label, fill the bottle with water, cork it and store it in the refrigerator. The weight and coolness of the bottle work well for rolling out pastry dough.

Water plants while you are away

If the plant and pot are large enough to accommodate a wine bottle, simply fill it with water and insert the neck into the soil.

Decorative light refraction

Fill clean empty wine bottles with sand, beach glass, stones, or other objects and place in a sunny window. It is like a homemade light-refracting cut glass crystal.

Wine Bottles Day #1!

Let’s put empty wine bottles to good use! You may enjoy collecting them or just recycling, but here you will find some ideas for creative uses for your bottles.

Create a bottle or "spirit" tree

Bottle trees can be a beautiful addition to a yard or garden area. Legend has it that the bottle trees captured evil spirits in the night and were burned off by the day’s sun. Place empty and clean wine bottles on the branches by inserting the branch into the bottle neck. The tree is best placed in a sunny area where the bottles can refract light.

Candle holders

Clean an empty wine bottle. Using the right tools for cutting glass, make your own design. Sand or smooth off the sharp edges of the bottle. Place a candle inside and light it up. The holder will also protect the candle flame from the wind if placed outdoors.

Hummingbird feeder

Wrap heavy copper wire in a decorative design around an empty wine bottle, leaving wire at the top (which will be the bottom of the bottle) for a hook to hang your feeder. Fill bottle with your choice of sweet liquid, place a feeder nozzle in the bottle, and you are all set.

Decorating gardens, paths and walkways

Clean empty wine bottles, and use them for a path or walkway. Dig a trench along-side the path, create your own design, and place bottles upside down. You may want to re-fill the trench with a mix of sand and the dirt you have removed. For gardens, you can create various designs no matter how small the space you have to work with. Use powdered lime to outline your wine bottle garden edge. It is a guide for placement and adds nutrients to the garden soil.

Storage for gourmet liquids

Clean and re-fill empty wine bottles with your home-made wine, herb-infused vinegars or oils, for your own use or to give as gifts.

Coffee Day #3!

In addition to being a delicious beverage, brewed coffee and coffee grounds can be used for a variety of projects, as such cleaning, gardening or body care... So drink up and enjoy the many benefits that come even after your cup is empty.

Clean your skin

Use coffee grounds as a facial scrub or mask. The results are smooth and clean skin.

Natural highlights

If you have brown hair, add some natural highlights by soaking it in coffee.

Give your hair a new look

Rub coffee grounds through hair and rinse to add softness and shine.

Feed worms in your garden

Work coffee grounds into the soil and compost. Besides the caffeine, the bacterium that grows on the many-sided coffee grounds is not only a food source, but adds grit to worms’ digestive system allowing them to digest better. They will reproduce faster, which is great for oxygenating our gardens and compost.

Raising the pH of flower plants

Coffee is acidic and can add nutrients to acid-loving plants such as azaleas and roses. Simply pour any left-over coffee around the base of the plant.

Slugs and snails in your garden

Use coffee grounds to deter slugs and snails. Both the smell and the abrasive surface help keep these pests out of the garden.

Coffee Day #2!

In addition to being a delicious beverage, brewed coffee and coffee grounds can be used for a variety of projects, as such cleaning, gardening or body care... So drink up and enjoy the many benefits that come even after your cup is empty.

Keep cats away from your garden

Use coffee grounds to keep cats from digging and pooping in your garden.

Non-toxic bug repellant

Use a solution of coffee to spray your plants. The smell is too strong for most bugs. You will need to re-apply after a rain.

Coffee as a fertilizer

Coffee grounds are a good source of nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, potassium and other trace minerals. While you need to be aware that not all plants love coffee, such as tomatoes, most are enriched by the added non-toxic nutrients.

Coloring porous items

Dye paper, fabrics, or other porous materials with a strong coffee solution. You can get from light to very dark nice shade of brown.

Ant control

Use coffee grounds for natural ant control. Place dried grounds in the areas ants appear. The smell is a deterrent. Outdoors, just place grounds on their hills.

Cleaning your fire place

Use wet coffee grounds when cleaning your fire place, wood stove or pellet stove to keep the dust and ash from flying. In a pellet stove, take care to not allow the burn pot to get clogged.

Remove odors from your hands

Rub some coffee on hands to remove any kind of odors. Rinse well.