Tubular Wine Bottle Tote

Make This Elegant Wine Tote from Very Simple Materials

Wine Tote Materials

• One 3-inch diameter x 37-inch tall mailing tube *
• Dremel tool with a sanding tip and cutting tip or a sanding block and X-acto knife
• Aleene's Clear Gel Quick Tacky Glue
• Gorilla glue or any extra strength glue
• Small dish
• Small paint brush
• Two 12 x 12-inch decorative sheets of paper
• Ribbon or embossed paper
• Double sided tape
• Thin cardboard about 5 x 8 inches
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Color coordinated marking pen - optional

* Michael's carries pre-cut ready to decorate wine tubes at Christmas time. This is a DIY and less expensive option.

Assembling the Wine Tote

Cut one end of the mailing tube to 13 inches long using the X-acto or a Dremel cutting tip. Leave the end caps that come on the tube on for now.

Cut the other end of the tube to measure 3 inches.

To make the top fit the bottom of the pieces you have to use a Dremel sanding tip or carefully cut away ½ inch with an X-acto knife from the outside of the 13-inch piece at the cut end.

I used a Dremel as this was a little easier but cutting it away and then sanding it with the sanding block will work as well. Do the same on the inside of the cut end of the top.

You will need to cut or sand away a good portion of the cardboard and it will be thin but we will fix that later.

This process will take some time even with the Dremel but be patient.

After all the sanding is done and the top now slides smoothly down over the bottom of the tube to close it, it's time to make these stripped areas strong once again.

Place a quarter size dollop of clear tacky glue in the dish with just a tiny drop of water. Mix together and paint this on the two areas you have just cut and sanded. This will strengthen them without added bulk.

After the glue mixture has dried completely, make sure you still have a nice fit.

At this point I took a dark brown marking pen and colored the stripped cardboard areas to give them a faux wood look. You could also draw something to coordinate with your paper.

Take one sheet of decorative paper and measure the larger piece of cardboard tube. Cut the paper to fit. The second sheet of decorative paper will be for the top of the tube and to cover the ends later.

Place double sided tape around all four edges on the reverse side of the sized paper. Smooth the paper in place on the 13-inch tube.

Since the tube is 13 inches long and the paper is 12 inches there will be an area on the top or bottom or both that is not covered.

We'll fix that later with some decorative trimming.

Cover around the top of the wine tube tote with a strip from the second 12 x 12 sheet of decorative paper in the same fashion.

Trace the top and bottom plastic caps on thin cardboard and cut out. Be sure to mark each one just in case they are slightly different.

Trace around these two cardboard circles onto the second sheet of decorative paper. Cut out leaving ½ inch all around each circle. Then cut small clips all around the circle just shy of the tracing.

Place some glue around the center on the reverse side of the paper circles. Press firmly in place on the cardboard circles (making sure you are not gluing over the side you have written "top" and "bottom").

Put down a small stream of glue all around the back edge of each cardboard circle and start laying down the little cut tabs one by one so you have a smooth edge. Let dry well.

Pull the plastic ends out of the tubes. Place Gorilla glue around the outside edges of the end caps and place them back into the tubes. Press firmly as they may come back out slightly due to the glue. Wipe off any glue that oozed out from underneath.

Glue the paper-covered cardboard ends over the caps with Tacky Glue. Let dry completely before decorating the tube.

Now you can embellish the tube as you like. I embossed some coordinating paper for around the very bottom and added some decorative ribbon.

You can add embellishment flowers, leaves or stickers that coordinate with your paper. Or hang a charm around the tube with a small ribbon.