Happy Tuesday, and welcome to another Tutorial.  Today I’m playing with bottle caps. I made several different projects, so you may want to grab a cuppa and get comfy.

I don’t usually do 3D because I only make cards, so I challenged myself to use the tiny bottle caps on a card, and I’m happy to report my idea actually worked as I’d hoped it would. Let’s get started!

Here is the finished card so you can see where we’re going:

I used the bottle caps as the flowers. The supplies I used for the card are:

Glossy Accents or another good liquid glue, a 1/2″ circle punch, some 1/2″ bottle caps and some 1/2″ epoxy dots. You will also need some pretty paper scraps.

First I used the 1/2″ circle punch to punch out some circles to use in the caps for the flower’s centers, then I started playing with the card front. I had to figure out where I wanted the flowers to be:

Here I have one of the centers inside a cap and the other two circles are just for placement. You can see a circle die to the right that I’ll use in a minute to cut the circles in the yellow paper. You could also use a circle punch if yours reaches far enough (mine did not). My circle die is the smallest of the Nestabilities circles, and is just under 3/4″.

I made a pencil mark under each flower center so I’d know where to cut:

then I went to the Big Shot to cut out the circles, using the pencil dots to center the die:

Sorry about the lighting – it’s different at the Big Shot station than it is on my desk.

After the circles were cut, I added some green pieces for stems and grass:

Then I put dimensional adhesive all over the back of the yellow layer, making sure to add some around the holes so there was no saggage:

and stuck it down to a white panel. This gave the layer some height to nestle the bottle caps into:

Now, about those bottle caps (finally, I know!). Here’s how I assembled them.  First, put a drop of glue into the center of the cap:

Then add the paper circle:

(This is really tough, right?) Make sure to squish it around a little to spread the glue. Last step is to add one of the epoxy circle dots:

Just peel it off the package and stick it on. So easy!

Then I put the three bottle caps with their centers inside the die-cut panel:

I was not pleased. They stuck up too far above their little nests, so I had to flatten them a bit. Here’s how I did it.

Please note: I’m using a Big Shot, but there are video tutorials out in the Interwebz that show you how to do this with a Cuttlebug, and also how to do it with a pair of pliers.

First I opened the platform so there were no tabs. Or should I say I took off all the layers of tabs until it was just the base of the platform. Then I put down one cutting plate and put the bottle caps on it:

Note: I use one plate for (mostly) cutting and one for the top plate so the paper isn’t marred by all the cut marks. For this project I put the smoother of the two plates on the bottom, and put the bottle caps with the open edge up. Then I put my ugly cutting plate on top:

Since I’d practiced this a few times to figure out the sandwich, I knew I’d probably embed the caps into the plate, so I wanted the ugly one on top.

I rolled them through and they came out a bit flatter. Here they are in the card front again:

See how much better they nestle?

Then I noticed the backs of the caps were a bit concave:

so I used a piece of dimensional adhesive to fill it in:

and then stuck them into their nests.

Done!

Wow, that was looong, but I’m a visual learner, so I wanted to include as much detail as I could.

Ready for something else? I have a few projects with some 1″ bottle caps. First, I made a magnet with an American flag cap:

You’ll notice it looks a bit different than a regular cap. That’s because I flattened it real good! I used the same steps as above, starting (from the bottom up) with the platform with one cutting plate:

Here the cap is front-up so you can see it, then I flipped it over:

and added the top cutting plate. Here is the sandwich again from a side view:

From bottom up: Platform all the way open, cutting plate, bottle cap with the opening up, top cutting plate. Run that through and you’ll get this:

Even though I used the same steps as above, the materials must be a little different in the larger caps, because they flattened out a lot.

When I turned it over, I liked it just as it was:

so all I did was glue a magnet onto the back. You add a drop of glue:

then the magnet:

and you’re done!

This was so easy I made a few more. The supplies are about the same as for the smaller cap:

But I used a 1″ circle punch for these, and 1″ epoxy dots.

I started with an aqua cap, flattened it like I did with the flag cap:

and punched out a circle from a pretty paper scrap:

I glued the circle to the top of the cap this time, and I also did another one with some dotted paper:

I used one of the 1″ epoxy dots for the center of the dotted cap:

I tried to cover the other one with Glossy Accents, and well, let’s just say in my world the epoxy dots are a better option. Less mess and no drying time. But if YOU like to play with Glossy Accents, there are a ton of projects out there in the wild you can try. I’ve linked to a few on my Pinterest Bottle Cap Projects board.

This one turned into a magnet, too. I also made another one with some pretty shiny paper I had no idea how to use, and now I do:

Pretty, huh? For this one I used the inside of the cap. I glued down the piece of pretty paper, then added the epoxy dot to it.

Okay, ONE MORE. I made some ornaments:

For the one on the left, I just used a circle cut from some glitter paper and added a Christmas epoxy circle I got in a dollar bin forever ago. For the one on the right I used a 1″ circle cut from a piece of Christmas paper scrap and put an epoxy dot on top of it.

You’ll notice both of these have a hanger, which means I punched a hole in them. I DID! I used the smaller of the two hole punches on my Crop-A-Dile to bend the edge of the cap back a little, then punched a hole. I just threaded some gold cord through the hole and tied it.

Note: You want to punch the hole before you add the epoxy dot in the center. Ask me how I know.

I did not flatten these two caps. The decorations are nestled inside the cap.

You know what else you can do with these? Necklaces! Use the same idea as these ornaments and just make the tie longer so you can wear it around your neck. You’ll probably want to use a jump ring through the hole to hold the ribbon or cord.

Okay, I AM DONE, finally!

I hope I’ve given you a few ideas of how you can use these fun bottle caps. They come in all sorts of colors and patterns, so the possibilities are endless. Do check out my Pinterest board, and you can also search Pinterest for Bottle Cap or Bottle Cap Crafts and you’ll find a ton of other ideas.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, please ask in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer you.