Introduction: Reuse Bottles, Make Salt and Pepper Shakers

About: I am married with two children. Spring, summer, and fall are my very favorite times of the year. I enjoy working in the yard, sewing, cooking, quilting, gardening, and creating. I do this to keep my sanity.
This instructable was inspired by a phone call I received from my son. He was leaving a spice store http://savoryspiceshop.com/ and was so excited to share with me; the wonderful spices they sold there. I had ordered some vanilla beans from Madagascar and paid quite a lot for them and they were dry and hard when they arrived. He reminded me how much I had paid for them. They were cheap at this place. He said the cumin smelled so good and they had plump vanilla beans that you could smell from the sealed bottles. I have been saving some lime bottles to make salt and pepper shakers out of and when he called I thought filling the bottles with unique salt and pepper blends would be a great gift to give someone. Let's get started.

Step 1: Supplies

2 Plastic Lime juice bottles shaped like these.
Salt
Pepper

I am not fortunate enough to have the wonderful stuff on hand. I visualize the salt that my sister had when I visited her a couple of years ago. It was a course brown salt and  the flavor was heavenly. 

Step 2: Tools

1 Large long needle
1 Permanent red marker optional
1 Red (small tipped paint) optional some type of paint to paint small letters
1 Paper towel or napkin
1 Newspaper to protect surface you are working on
1 Shallow container to hold the bottles secure
1 Plastic bag for filler
1 Damp wash cloth
1 Stamping block and letters optional
Hair spray for mistakes with the permanent marker
Q tip for corrections
1 Small funnel or folded paper to fill the containers

I am sure there are permanent paints available but I decided to use this paint so it could be removed later.

Step 3: Prepare Bottles

Wash and dry the bottles thoroughly.
Remove the lid.
Remove the plug using the needle; it works great!



Step 4: Making the Holes

Turn on the flame, match or lighter.
Hold the needle under the flame to get it hot enough to melt the plastic.
Stick the needle into the lid and make holes all the way around the lid to make the shaker.
You may decide not to punch the holes and just use the plug for the shaker part.


Step 5: Paint Lettering Using the Stamp Method

Scrape the black lettering off the bottles with your fingers.
Place a plastic bag in the shallow dish.
Place one of the bottles facing you into the bowl.
Kind of wiggle it to snuggle it into the bag to firm it up.
Place an S stamp on the stamping board.
Using the tip of the red paint fill in the letter S.
Mark center on the bottle with the red marker.
Center the stamping block over the bottle.
Press lightly.
Remove the stamp.
Wash the stamp.
Repeat the above process using the letter P for the pepper shaker. 
You may want to use the tip of the red paint to add more color to the letter S. 
You may paint the lines using the tip of the paint or leave it plain.
Adding art work would make it unique.
Or you can use the red marker and paint it.
These would look cute embellished with just about anything.

Using the paint is a little more difficult, a steady hand and patience is the key for success. 

Step 6: Fill Bottles

Fill the bottles with salt and pepper!
I did not have a funnel small enough to use so I folded paper into a cone shape. 
Then filled the bottles filling the salt shaker first.

Step 7: Sunshiine's Final Thoughts

This project has been fun. The great thing about using the paint and marker is it will come off.  You can remove the marker with hair spray and the paint can be peeled off, so the bottles can be used for other purposes. 
I love the idea because the bottles are normally re-cycled or thrown away and giving them away as a gift will help draw attention to re-using items that can be made into something very pretty. 

In closing I would like to thank our instructables company, sponsors, authors, readers, and members; for making this community a great success! Many hours and hard work has been put into making this place the best DIY on the Internet. Have fun and thanks for stopping by!
Sunshiine
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