Crafts for the Non-Crafty: Mini Flower Bud Vases!

This is seriously the easiest thing you will ever "make". Because most of the "making" is done in advance by the lovely soda factory that blows the glass containers into these cute shapes.

Materials:

• 4-pack Orangina Bottles
• Wire cutters
• Soap
• Water
• dish sponge with a green "scrubby" side (that's a technical term, "scrubby"; I'm an English teacher, so I would know)

Steps:

1. Buy the Orangina bottles. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, they sell it in the 4-packs there. Check other "fancy" grocery stores, too. 
2. Drink the tasty, bubbly orange beverages, and rinse out/save the bottles as you work your way through the 4-pack. I LOVED this stuff as a kid, and it's now an occasional treat (as it's a little expensive).
3. When you have as many bottles as you want to keep for making into vases, fill a sink with warm, soapy water. Place the bottles (lids removed) in the water; I tried to keep the labels facing down, but the bottle has a mind of its own, annoyingly. Filling the bottles with the water seemed to help a LITTLE, but in the end it wasn't a huge deal if the labels weren't completely submerged.
4. Let them soak for at least 2 hours; I soaked mine for about 3, I think? Honestly, I managed to forget about them until I walked by the sink and went, "Oh yeah!" 
5. Peel the labels off slowly; doing so lets you get most of the paper off fairly easily and in fewer pieces. There will most likely be glue/paper remaining even after this step, BUT that comes off easily as well. 
6. For the remaining bits of label paper/glue, rub it off with your fingers while submerging that section of the bottle in water. If it's being REALLY stubborn, use the green scrubby side of the sponge, it'll come off without issue. 
7. Tip the bottles upside-down onto a paper towel so they drain, then dry the outside. With your wire cutters, cut off the ring of aluminum that was there to keep the screw-on lid attached and tamper-free. (Tip: Pull the ring down the neck bottle a little, it's easier to get the cutter onto it that way.)
8. Fill with water and pretty flowers. Enjoy!

Why did I take the pictures outside on my balcony? Because my table's messy again and I didn't feel like cleaning it off right then. Once a hot mess...

But wait, you say! This is still far too complicated for me! I want something simpler! Are there any sodas out there that I can use without all that pesky label removing?

The answer is yes. I found this bottle's shape and label particularly charming. The how-to steps for this one:

1. Live in an area that has cute little French bistros. 
2. Buy a sparkling pink lemonade with your tasty meal of ham with dill mayo on crusty baguette and a nicely-dressed salad. Admire how a French accent can make even the ugliest waiter kinda hot. (Seriously!)
3. Once you finish your sparkling pink lemonade, giggle with your companion as you sneak the bottle into your purse because you realize it's kind of weird/dorky to take a bottle home to use as a flower vase. 
4. Once home, rinse out the bottle, avoiding getting the label wet as much as possible. 
5. Fill with water. Put in a single flower. Feel French. Use the video below to help feel French-ier:

Ok, so really this isn't a "craft" so much as "Samantha likes those cute little bud vases but doesn't want to spend $10 PER VASE when she can make them from bottles that also contain a taste of her childhood... and she's cheap." Still, how cute do they look?

Ok, now I'm just showing off.