SAILOR JERRY PIN-UP ORNAMENTS AND GIFT TAGS

As a blogger you have to be prepared and aware of upcoming holidays/seasons. We usually start Halloween crafts in July and Christmas in August, but sometimes inspiration strikes you at the last minute. These pin-up ornaments are exactly that! I’ve seen so many fun ideas and crafts out of the labels, so I wanted to come up with a quick and easy holiday-themed idea. If you’ve tried to remove a Sailor Jerry label before and were unsuccessful, don’t be discouraged! I ruined 2 labels while trying to make this project, but hopefully you’ve been stockpiling your empty bottles so you have a few to work with. If you don’t have more than one empty bottle, are you really going to be all that upset that you have to buy more rum? Right! Didn’t think so! Pour yourself a drink and get crafting!

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Supplies:

3-4 empty Sailor Jerry Rum bottles

Hot water

Scissors

Recycled cardboard (cereal or beer boxes work best)

Mod Podge

Foam brush or paint brush

Nail or tack

Twine or ornament hooks (essentially a paperclip)

(1.) Fill your bottles with hot water and let them sit for about 5 minutes. The heat will loosen up the adhesive on the bottle so the label peels back easier. (2.) Pick at a corner and slowly start to pull back. Like I said, sometimes you hit the jackpot and they peel off with no problem, but if you get a few tears, don’t sweat it too much. It will give it a kind of weathered or aged look anyway, so just tell everyone it was intentional!

(3.) Once your label is off, cut around the edges of the pin-up, leaving just a small space at the very top for you to put a small hole into later. (4.) Brush a coat of Mod Podge onto the cardboard and place your pin-up on top (image facing you). Run your finger over the top and edges to smooth out wrinkles or air bubbles. Repeat with remaining labels. Let them dry for 10-15 minutes. (5.) Cut out of the cardboard, around the edges of the pin-up. If it starts to curl up, just place the pin-ups between two heavy books for 30 minutes or so. This usually happens from the way you have to bend them when cutting around the edges. (6.) Take a nail or tack and push into the top of the ornament, creating a small hole for the twine or ornament hooks to go through.