I was walking around a coffee shop one day and I noticed a big Ship-In-A-Bottle displayed on a window aisle. This struck in my mind and I wanted to make a ship in a bottle but I had no supplies for this. So, I had to postpone the idea at least for now. And one day, as I was cleaning the huge pile of crafty mess that I made, I found this long forgotten bulbs stored away safely in a corner of a cupboard. Suddenly an idea struck and I thought why not make a miniature inside this light bulb and that would be a perfect gift for Valentine's day too. So, this is the story of Miniature-In-A-Lightbulb.

I couldn’t contain myself from excitement when this light bulb miniature turned out looking pretty. This idea was a successful project.

Step 1: Hollow Out the Light Bulb

This step is a bit intimidating so be careful when you're doing this.Wear safety gloves and googles first in case the glass breaks. The glass shards are very tiny, so switching off the fans (if you have) is necessary if you don’t want to have it spread around your house.

The first step in hollowing out the bulb would be removing the bulb’s base that’s in silver (do you know what is it called?). If you remove this center part first, removing other parts like the filament, wires and the stem would be much easier than you think.

Once you remove the silver base, then next part is to break the black insulation.

After removing off the black insulation from the base, next step is to pull out the glass stem. You’ll find another setup of glass coverage for the stem. Break that in order to clear out the stem and filament.

If you dented out the base like I did, then trim it off using just plain scissors. Wash out the light bulb to clear off the dust inside the globe. Let it dry completely.

Congrats, you have successfully hollowed out the light bulb. You’ve crossed the hard part.

Step 2: Preparing Your Light Bulb Miniatures

While the light bulb is drying, let’s start making the tiny miniatures that’ll sit inside the light bulb.

I decided to go with the Eiffel tower miniature with the heart hot air balloon flying above.

Take cardstock colors of your choice, and cut it in the shape of hearts.

Now, you’ll have to slit the mini hearts so that they fit each other. Take two mini hearts and slit one from the top to the middle and the other from bottom to middle. Now fit them together.

To make the heart hot air balloon, cut a basket shape and glue some threads connecting the basket with the mini hearts.

Step 3: Assembling Your Miniatures Inside Light Bulb

First, to fit everything together, you’ll need a stand to make the lightbulb steady.

Simply take a tissue roll, cut it out, now you have the stand for your lightbulb.

Pour some glue into the light bulb and add some glitter if you want. You can switch glitter with beach sand, white sand, or could add decorative stones, etc.

Let the glitter glue dry for few hours. When it’s semi-dry, take the Eiffel tower miniature and stick it inside the globe. This way the miniature will stick to the glue and glitter and doesn’t move at all. And let it all dry.

Step 4: Assembling Your Miniatures Inside Light Bulb - Part 2

Since I dented the base of the light bulb and cut it out, I had to come up with the way to hide the top and to hang the heart air balloon.

If you hadn’t dented the base like me (it means you’re smart…) you can take some clay and shut the top.

I took a juice carton cap and poked a hole through it. I attached another long thread to the heart air balloon and slid it through the bottle cap hole and tie a knot.

Phew… That was a lot of work… But was worth it… Here’s the almost complete light bulb miniature for your valentine.

I took a bit of washi tape and taped the thread knot on the top of the cap so that it’s sturdy and the knot doesn’t come off.

Step 5: Final Miniature-In-A-Lightbulb

Now, I didn’t like the red color of the cap. So, I took some silver acrylic paint and painted it silver.

I didn’t like the toilet roll stand either. So I switched it with the golden washi tape. And it was a perfect match. Here’s the completed light bulb miniature with mini Eiffel tower and a 3D heart air balloon inside. Enjoy ;)