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Halloween is here, and that means it’s time for scary, spooky decorations. What better way to celebrate than making your own DIY decorations, especially when that means you can use old bottles you may have laying around, waiting to be recycled? We walk you through how to make these Halloween Apothecary Bottles step by step. Spice up your spice rack! Except, with how cute these turn out, you’ll want to display them on the mantle. We’ve even provided free, downloadable labels for you to print and use for this craft.

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Materials Needed:

Glass Bottles

Old candle bottles, mason jars, sauce or dressing bottles, or beverage bottles will work great! You’ll want different sizes and shapes to make the most fun looking bottles. Alternatively, if you don’t have much in the way of old glass bottles laying around for crafts, going to a second-hand or dollar store is a great way to get bottles of all shapes and sizes for cheap prices. You can find similar bottles at craft stores, but you will most likely pay more for them.

Wood Stain or Acrylic Paint

You will use this to make the bottles look “old.”

Sandpaper

A heavy-duty sandpaper paper works best. This is another way we’ll be aging the bottles.

Sticker Paper and Labels

Any type of sticker paper where you can cut out shapes will work great. You’ll use this to print the labels, which you can download here. You can purchase craft sticker paper that we show in these pictures at most craft supply stores, or even online!

Decorations for Your Bottles

Use your imagination and put whatever you want on the outside and inside of your bottles! If you want a more simplistic craft, aging the bottles and adding the labels can still make a striking Halloween decoration. We added spooky Halloween items from the dollar store, twine, candle wax and more to our bottles, but you can make them yours!

Step One: Clean and Age the Bottles

Depending on where you get your bottles from, you’ll need to clean off any residue from previous labels. If your labels won’t come off, mix a paste of two parts baking soda with one part canola oil and spread it on the label. Wait a few hours and then rub the mixture off with a rough sponge. The label should come off easily! Then, run your jars through the dishwasher.

To make your bottles look old and spooky, use the sandpaper to roughen the glass of the bottles. This will give them a used look. If you have colored glass, you may need to skip this step, as the color may come off with sanding.

Step Two: Paint and Stain the Bottles

Next, dilute wood stain or acrylic paint with water. Add the diluted wood stain or black or brown acrylic paint to the bottle and wipe it off. You don’t want to make the bottle completely black or brown, you just want to give it an aged feel. Make sure to put down newspaper and wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty so that you don’t accidentally get paint or stain on your clothes.

If your bottles have corks or lids, make sure to age them as well!

For corks, brush the cork with the diluted stain. For metal lids, you can sand the finish down, or paint the lid with undiluted acrylic paint.

Step Three: Add the Labels to the Bottles

Once your bottles are dry, it’s time to add the labels. Using the sticker paper, print the labels (provided free here!) and cut them out. Attach them to the various bottles. You can use the .pdf we have provided as there are a number of different sizes. If you want to size the files on your own, we have also provided the transparent images that you can place into a Word document and size on your own, and then print. 

Tip: for a more aged look, gently brush the sides of the labels with a felt brown stamp pad or marker before placing them on the bottles.

Then, place the aged labels on the bottles.

Step Four: Decorate the Bottles

Now comes the fun part! (Especially for the young Halloween crafters.) Make the bottles your own by decorating them inside and out.

For the Outside:

One some of the bottles, we tied the top with twine. You could add charms, bows, and other décor. If you’re daring, you can use cheesecloth and wax to make an old-fashioned wax topper for the bottles. Just tie the cheesecloth on top of the lid, dip into old wax, and let cool.

For the Inside:

Fill your bottles with anything you want! We added:

-Moss and plastic skeletons to our Skulls of Imp bottle. (We found the skeletons at the dollar store.)

- Rock salt and glitter for the Bone bottle.

- Old spiderwebs and creepy cloth to some of the others to make them spooky.

Once you’re done, display your bottles for Halloween and enjoy your new spooky decorations. Make sure to snap a picture and tag Landmark Home Warranty so we can see your creations!

While it may be the time for frights and fear, don’t be frightened by home repairs this year. Purchase a home warranty from Landmark and make sure when your covered systems and appliances go bump in the night and fail, you can have them repaired or replaced. Take a look at our plans and pricing here.