I love to decorate for the holidays, and Halloween is no exception.
Last year, I picked up some of those Potion Bottle stickers. I thought it would be a quick and easy way to dress up some of our ancient bottles of wine that will most likely never get uncorked, except to dump them down the drain. However, what I discovered is that most of the bottle stickers don't properly fit the bottles. Because bottles come in all shapes and sizes there really isn't a way to mass produce a sticker to fit all bottle types. I initially thought I could trim the stickers down to make them fit, but that wasn't an option unless I was willing to trim off most of the elements that were crucial to the design of the label. I'd have to cut words in half, leaving the label illegible. Further, bottles often contain ridges, they bellow out in areas, or taper down in others. All this further complicates label adhesion. If you try to adhere the label over these bottle inconsistencies, then you're left with a label that bunches up in areas and simply won't lie flat. I realize things are supposed to be scary looking for Halloween, but messy labels should not apply.
Now, if you're one of the lucky ones who just happened to have the perfect bottles for the ready made labels, then please take my advice and don't throw them away! I can almost guarantee that next years bottles won't work.
This year I took matters into my own crafty hands. Since I was still determined to have a set of wickedly spooky potion bottles to haunt my home, I decided to make my own. Making your own potion bottle labels is super easy! Especially when you start with Stampin' Up!'s Witches Brew cardstock. You don't even have to be an artist, since the cardstock designs have already been created for you. Read on for instructions and a video tutorial too!
Video Tutorial:
Instructions:
1. Get some bottles! Bottles come in all shapes and sizes, so use that to your advantage. A bottle arrangement of varying sizes and shapes adds interest to your decor. A couple of my bottles once contained tomato sauce, so don't think you have to use wine bottles. You could use empty (and clean) mayonnaise jars, jelly jars, spaghetti sauce jars, etc. Reduce, reuse, recycle!
If you're wanting to use an old wine or sparkling cider bottle and you no longer have the cork, then use bottle bottle stoppers to top your bottles and keep the potion safely inside.
2. Prepare bottles! If you bottles have labels from the manufacturer, then soak them in a sink filled with HOT soapy water. The labels will peel off and any remaining glue residue can be gently scrubbed off with a plastic mesh dish scrubbie.
I like to also run my bottles and lids through the dish washer so they are extra sparkly clean. However, this isn't recommended for wine or champagne bottles since they probably won't fit properly in the dish washer.
3. Add some drops of food coloring to an empty bottle, then fill with water (a funnel is helpful and less messy) and seal with the lid or bottle stopper. Make sure outside of the bottle is dry.
4. Measure the consistent sized area of the bottle or jar to determine the height of your label. This is the area of the bottle that maintains the same diameter, or thickness. Don't include areas of the bottle that taper down, bellow out, or contain ridges, as these are areas where your label won't lie flat around the bottle.
Use a seamstress tape measure, which can be wrapped around your bottle to determine the width measurement of your label. Remember labels don't have to extend all the way around the bottle, unless you want them to.
5. Now that you know the width and height measurements, you can make your label. Select from a variety of Halloween designs from the Witches Brew designer series paper pack. Use Stampin' Up! Halloween stamp sets to stamp designs and punch out with Stampin' Up! punches. Add additional designs by embossing your stamped images on to the designer series cardstock. Adhere your label using a strong adhesive such as Sticky Strip. Viola!
My measurements probably won't work for you, since you're likely to own different size and shaped bottles. However, I have provided some additional close up photos in case you'd like to copy my designs and rather not Stamp Your Way. Below the pictures you'll find a shopping list of the items used to make my bottles. Happy Haunting!
Shopping list:
Witches Brew Designer Series Paper Pack
Halloween Bash Stamp Set - Wood mount
Halloween Bash Stamp Set - Clear Mount
Halloween Hello Stamp Set - Wood Mount
Halloween Hello Stamp Set - Clear Mount
Clear Block Starter Bundle
Sticky Strip
White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Black Stampin' Emboss Powder
Embossing Buddy
Heat Tool
Scalloped Oval Punch
Stampin' Trimmer
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