Cran Judy-Ann

Think back to your 21st birthday and what are the things that you are most excited about? Of Course. You are now legally allowed to drink and buy alcohol. If you are the "ideal" 21 year old, you have not experienced too much in drinking and are pretty new to this whole world of mixed drinks. So often the main question that stumps many new drinkers is the simple "What would you like today?".

I often laugh when I think about a story that my Brother-In-Law tells about his experience in ordering his first drink. He, like many others was a good ol' boy. He honestly didn't drink until he turned 21. Let me set the mood for you. He had just turned 21 and he pridefully walks into a bar with his head held up high. Excited to order his first real drink, and anticipating that they will ask for his ID so he can whip out that license and prove his age! Here we go..... he sits down and begins to look around. Oh wait a minute..... He needs a man drink. Not beer, not wine, but liquor! It wasn't long until the sweet older woman came over and said, "What can I get for you today". Without even thinking, he says very confidently "I'd like a jack and crown please!". You can imagine the smile that came upon her face as she heard this adorable youngin' just order a glass of Jack Daniels mixed with Crown Royal. For the rest of the night, the bartender made it her mission to introduce him to a multitude of different drinks, explaining what liquors compliment what mixer.

This story is what inspired me to do my next project. A very close family friend was turning 21. She is one of those girls that just has a lot of spunk to her. You know, sweet and spicy as I like to call her. Anyways, her 21st birthday party was coming up and I needed to do something different. She isn't the girl that I could just buy a bottle for and say enjoy. She was a girl that I needed to bring to the bar and have her try every drink known to man kind until she found what she liked. Instead however, after looking around, I came across a picture on Pinterest that had a bucket, that had small whiskey bottles and cigars nicely presented.

What a fabulous idea! I loved everything about it. The creativity, the options, the customization that could be done. This was it! Later that day I went to the craft store and came home with the following.

*1 Oval Black Metal Pail (as shown to left)

* 2 Large Packages of Tinseled Pipe Cleaners

*2 Large Packages of Colored Pipe Cleaners

*Alphabet Stickers (Found in Scrapbooking)

*Number Stickers

*Decoration Stickers (I used Candles & Swirls)

*Glitter Spray paint

*Medium package of decor rocks / gems

*Large square of Styrofoam

*21 Wooden Thin Dowels or Kabob Sticks

*21 Assorted 50ml. sample liquor bottles

                                                               *Long Tinsel Swirls 

                                                         *Bunch of Color Assorted Silk Flowers 

Step by Step

1. Take the pail on a covered surface and put it upside down. Use the glitter spray paint and evenly coat the pail to add a sparkled effect. You can use as little or as much as you'd like.
2. Using an exacto knife, cut ovals out of the styrofoam square. Layer the styrofoam ovals into the pail. You will want about 3 layers in the pail to be able to uphold the weight of the bottles. 
3. After the pail has dried from the paint, Decorate the pail with the stickers that you have chosen. (For mine, I put wrapped around 21 candles from front to back, and scattered the swirls to add extra decor. You may also want to use a ruler to help center and space the writing on the front. 
4. Organize your color patterns and figure out what colors you'd like to stick with for the main theme.
5. Take one tinseled pipe cleaner and one colored pipe cleaner and begin to tightly wrap around the wooden dowel. (If you want, you can try to match the bottles colors). Begin wrapping about 2 inches above the bottom of the dowel and continue your way up. I used 4 pipe cleaners per wooden stick. 
6. Once you get towards the top, choose the bottle that you would like and begin to tightly wrap around the neck of the bottle. You will need to wrap it around once, then tie in between to make sure it's tight. The tighter you can wrap it the better the bottle will hold. 
7. Repeat step 6, another 20 times. 
8. Once all 21 bottles are wrapped and tied to the wooden sticks, you can begin to put them into the pail by pushing the stick into the styrofoam. You can arrange the bottles many different ways according to the overall look you are going for. 
9. After you are satisfied with your arrangement, you can add in some tinsel swirls for an additional decoration.
10. Arrange the silk flowers around the rim of the pail.
11. Lastly, take the package of the decorative rocks and empty them into the pail to cover the styrofoam and add additional weight to hold the dowels in place.

..... And there you have it. A perfectly unique 21st Birthday gift!

Source: foodbeast.com via Miss Desiree' on Pinterest