I don’t know about you but does your home feel a little bare now the Christmas decorations have been taken down? Lets add some cosy warmth with these super easy winter bottle lights. These DIY lights in a bottle look fabulous on your mantle piece, a great touch for your winter home decor.

In case you are wondering you do not need to master the art of drilling through a wine bottle…. let me introduce you to this wonderful invention of cork bottle lights, simply put battery-operated lights with the light switch in the cork. They are perfect for old wine bottles.

Remember my zentangle inspired upcycled Christmas baubles? I love doodling so much I’ve taken this onto empty wine bottles as a super easy project to ease me into the new year. Add battery pack fairy lights and you’ve got a great creative way to use old bottles.

Do check out my video tutorial for bottle lights.

DIY lights in a bottle

Materials for lights in a wine bottle

• Old empty glass bottles
• Sharpies
• Cork bottle lights

Step 1 Firstly let’s clean any old labels off the bottles. I soaked my glass bottles in hot soapy water and then peeled off the wine labels (if lucky) or scrubbed off any labels taking care to remove any sticky residue.

Remove any of the packaging from around the bottle of the neck using a sharp craft knife, do take care when doing this.

Step 2 Next let’s divide the bottle into different sections with wavy lines drawn with the sharpie pen. The beauty of working with sharpie pens is they dry very quickly which reduces the chances of the odd smudge. I suggest using a thick sharpie due to the surface area.

Step 3 Now for the fun part, doodling different designs in each section of your bottle. Think about the proportion of clear glass to sharpie in relation to the white lights shining through. You may prefer the look of negative space (where you colour in the background the pattern is left clear for the light tp shine through).

Step 4 To finish the craft project insert the lights through the neck of the bottle. I have chosen white lights for wine bottles to reflect through the glass.

I hope you like your simple diy wine bottle lights as much as I do, they would make great party decor, or light up your garden for a summer BBQ, or even a quirky great gift.

Need to save up old wine bottles before you get making? Pin for later.

If you are looking for more wine bottle crafts do check out my upcycled cacti planter (a real favourite of mine) and a sea glass lamp.