DIY Coastal Vibes: How to Upcycle an Old Flower Vase for Spring and Summer Décor

In this post – how to upcycle a plain glass flower vase into an adorable coastal spring decoration.

Upcycling a Vase

I love receiving a beautiful bouquet of flowers – who doesn’t? But, once the flower arrangement is dead and gone, I’m always left wondering what to do with the vase. In the past I have put them in the recycling bin, or brought them to my classroom to have handy in case any of my students surprised me with pretty bouquets. I’ve also heard that some florist shops will accept them for reuse?

Anyway, I got to thinking about what else I could do with a vase, and I came up with a cute idea – turning it into a dual-purpose spring tulip bulb holder and coastal candle vase. And since I was upcycling the vase, I decided to try to use up some of the other craft supplies I already owned too. Win-win!

Supplies Needed

Trader Joe’s always has so many beautiful flowers this time of year, and I have to stop myself from bringing one of everything home with me! I found a small glass vase with sprouting tulips in it and decided to use it for this project. Since I already had everything else in my crafting stash, with the exception of the dark chocolate covered almonds, that was all that I needed. P.S. I love a craft with leftover candy!

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(The list below is approximate. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’m a figure-it-out -as-I-go crafter, which means I gather a pile of supplies and use what I want. As you can see, I ended up not using everything in the photo above.)

Glass flower vase

Small flower vase from Trader Joe’s

colorful scallops

tiny shell vase filler

thick twine

short length of rope (long enough to tie around your vase)

glue gun

glue sticks

scissors

Optional spring decor: bunnies, candy, ribbon etc.

Step 1: Add Twine Using Hot Glue

Starting just above the narrowest part of the vase, I carefully glued a length of thick twine around it. I continued wrapping the twine tightly around the vase until it reached the desired thickness.

Once I liked how it looked, I trimmed the end of the twine and fastened it securely with glue. I tried to begin and end the twine on the same side of the vase, so I could hide that part on the back side.

Step 2: Tie a Length of Thicker Rope Around It

I had a piece of leftover rope from a previous project that was just long enough to tie around the vase so I used it. You could also add a pretty ribbon or bow to this too.

Step 3: Add Tiny Seashell Vase Filler

This bag of tiny shells was also a project left-over, so I was happy to use it up too.

Step 4: Add Scallop Shells with Hot Glue to Inside of Vase

Because I didn’t have any more vase filler, I decided to cover up the bottom half of the vase with some colorful scallop shells that (surprise!) I also had leftover in my stash. I attached each to the inside of the vase with a drop of glue. The colors of the shells remind me of Easter eggs.

Step 5: Place Smaller Vase Inside Larger One + Add Bunny Accent

My plan from the beginning was to nest a smaller vase inside of the larger one and I was very happy to find out that it fit! The best part is that it’s easy to remove, so when the tulips are spent, I can remove it and use the larger vase as a candle holder.

I added a bunny and a few candy eggs in the Trader Joe’s tulip arrangement for fun.

Use as Candle Holder

The best part of this project is that it’s basically two things in one. I love how the large vase looks with a candle in it! It will look lovely on our table this summer.

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