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You can make this easy Christmas craft using things you probably already have at home. It’s no-sew, quick to complete, and adorable. Perfect for busy women who want to create and give handmade gifts, but have limited time.
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Tilting my head and furrowing my brow, I searched for some visible speck of quality, cuteness, some sign of success.
Sighing, I unfocused my eyes. The red, green, white and silver melded into an amorphous blob, all detail lost. Yes, this is how it looks best, I thought to myself. The lack of focus hides the ugly.
The idea for that craft project flashed into my brain a few days prior. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Heck, I almost left work early that day just to try it out. I was excited enough to think about burning some vacation time on it.
I’ve been saving my prescription medication bottles all year, convinced that I would find some cool way to repurpose them. And I found out that hot-gluing mini pom-pons to them wasn’t what I was looking for.
Luckily, I came up with something way better.
An Easy Christmas Craft is Born… On the 2nd Try
My first attempt at getting crafty with my prescription bottles was so terrible, I emailed my subscribers about it so they could laugh, too:
It looks way worse in person, trust me. While I was writing that email, I came up with a cute idea.
I have loved textured knit sweaters for as long as I can remember. I scooped up nearly every cable knit sweater Gap offered when I was in college back in the early 2000’s.
What if I could make tiny sweaters for my prescription bottles, fill them with little goodies, and hand them out as mini gifts? Heck yes! But I wasn’t quite sure how to make it happen as quickly and easily as possible.
I put that thought on hold to rearrange some of my craft supplies. While I was moving stuff around, I happened upon a bag of rib-knit wool socks that my dad had given me last year. I almost set them aside, but… wait.
What if… I wonder. I grabbed an empty prescription bottle, unbundled a pair of the socks, and… Yes! It fits!
My darling little sweater bottle idea was born.
Easy Christmas Craft: Hat & Sweater Gift Bottles
This is designed to be a quick and easy Christmas craft. It involves no sewing, no knitting, and minimal supplies. It’s perfect for those of us who want to be crafty and creative, but don’t have a ton of time to do so. Crafting is a great way to help stay healthy and relieve stress during the holidays, so why not go for it?
These hat & sweater gift bottles can easily be made in bulk and given as gifts to friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. It’s also a great project for a crafts & cocktails night. You could even hand them out as favors at a holiday wine and cheese party.
As shown in the photo above, you can make the sweater long enough to cover the rim of the lid, or leave it uncovered for a little “eyes” effect.
Could you sew, knit, and embellish this more? Sure. But I’m going for maximum cuteness in minimal time. So, my sewing machine stayed in the closet for this easy Christmas craft.
Supplies
- Prescription medication bottles (I used 2 sizes of bottles – 3 inches high by 1.5 inches wide, and 3 inches high by 1 inch wide)
- Knit tube socks (I used 2 sizes – 2 inches wide with a 7.5 inch neck (Gray in pics), and youth boys’ crew socks, size small (White in pics)
- Large pom pons (I used 2.5 inch poms) (1 per bottle)
- Small pom pons (I used 1/4 inch) (2 per bottle)
- Glue gun
- Glue sticks
- Crafting gloves (Not pictured)
- Rotary cutter
- Rotary cutting mat
Make it
Before You Get Started
Remove the labels from the bottles. Wash each bottle with soap and water to remove any medication residue.
As the picture above shows, you can either leave the rim of the lid uncovered, or cover it up. The little slits in the lid sort of look like eyes, no?
The instructions below are for making a sweater long enough to cover the bottle rim. If you want to leave the rim uncovered, measure and cut the sock only 1/2 inch below the bottom of the bottle on step 1.
Finally, I leave the sock on the bottle for steps 2, 3, 4, and 5, because it’s easier for me to handle that way.
Okay, let’s get to it!
Step By Step
1.Remove the lid from the bottle. Lay the bottle on the tube sock, aligning the top of the bottle with the top edge of the sock. Measure 1 inch down from the top of the bottle.
Using the rotary cutter, cut the sock 1 inch below the top of the bottle. Cut as straight across as possible. As stated above, if you want to leave the rim of the lid exposed, cut only 1/2 inch below the bottom of the bottle.
2. Next, we’re going to make the top cuff of the sweater.
Slip the sock onto the bottle, with the cut edge at the top. Put on your crafting gloves to avoid burning your fingers on hot glue (You’ll notice in the photo that I lived dangerously and skipped the gloves).
Using a glue gun, pipe a thin line of glue just below the top edge of the sock, all the way around. If you don’t work quickly, feel free to do only one half at a time for steps 2 and 3.
3. Carefully turn the top edge down about 1/4 inch, all the way around (Or halfway around, if you are doing one half at a time).
4. Pipe another thin line of glue just below the edge you turned down.
5. Turn the top edge down another 1/4 inch. Shape the cuff to even it out while the glue is still warm.
6. Glue 2 small pom pons vertically to the sweater to create little buttons.
7. Part the fuzz on the large pom until you can see the center. Add a dot of glue to the center of the pom. Press it firmly onto the center of the lid. Fluff the pom so it looks cute!
8. Screw the lid onto the bottle. Put the sweater on the bottle. Depending on which length you chose, pull it up to either the top or bottom edge of the lid.
Voila! You’ve just made a hat & sweater gift bottle to fill with tiny little goodies (More on that below)! An adorable and easy Christmas craft!
Notes & Variations
You can add a dot of glue to the underside of the sweater and press it onto the bottle to keep it in place. I don’t bother, because it’s easier to open the bottle if you pull the sweater down a bit. And if the sweater isn’t glued on, it’s easer to recycle the bottle eventually.
If a good portion of the neck of the sock is left over, you can use it to create a variation for another bottle – a sweater dress.
To make a sweater dress, follow the steps above, but turn the sock under on both the top and bottom edges. The cut edge will be stretchy and uneven. As a result, it will flare out, looking like a little sweater dress! A “sweater dress” bottle is pictured at the bottom of this post, on the right.
You can use the leftover foot portions of the sock as dust rags. Slip one over your hand and dust away!
Fill With Tiny Gifts
One of the best things about this easy Christmas craft is that you can fill it with little gifts. I’d recommend taking your bottle to the store so you can see what fits before you buy. Here are some of my favorites:
- Chapstick
- Starbursts
- Mini 5-stick packs of gum
- Mini dental floss
- Hershey’s kisses or other mini-size candy
- Mini hair clips
- Money
You can also type or write a little message and cut it out on a thin strip of paper to include inside the bottle. For example: “Merry Christmas! Love, Amy”
Let’s Wrap This Up
With some basic supplies, you can make a cute, quick, and easy Christmas craft. And it’s not just for Christmas – It’s the perfect little gift for any winter holiday.
Make them in bulk, and give them to co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family to put a smile on their faces and warm their hearts. Or, if you want to give them a laugh, just glue a bunch of pom pons to a bottle and give them that. See the first picture above.
Can you think of any other ways to jazz up these hat & sweater gift bottles? Let me know in the comments below!
