Potion Bottles

It's time for the first Halloween post of the season!  I'm so excited.  I was going to wait and have the entire month of October full of Halloween tutorials but I started seeing Halloween posts as soon as September 1st rolled around and I just couldn't wait.  I had a poll on my Facebook page to make sure people were ready to see these kind of posts already and 62% of the people who voted want them now so here we are! Prepare The Bottles

1. Soak them in warm soapy water for about five minutes to clean them out and make the labels easier to peel off.
2. Peel off the labels and scrub off any remaining adhesive residue with a washcloth.
3. Let them dry then use sandpaper to distress them a bit and make them look aged.  This is a little difficult with glass but if you can find cool plastic bottles those are easy to distress like the one above.
4. Paint all of the caps a flat black.  I used texturized spray paint so it made them look and feel more like cast iron.

Make The Labels

1. Make a coffee dye.  Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.  Then add 1 cup of instant coffee granules and 3 Tablespoons vanilla extract.  Allow to cool completely.  This is the same mixture that I use to dye fabric.
2. Find a cool font and print all of your labels on to regular white paper and cut them out.  Cardstock will also work but the edges won't darken as well and they won't look as aged.
3. Preheat your oven to 250F.
4. Using a foam brush, apply the coffee dye to the printed side of your label and then the back.  Lay it on a cookie sheet with the print side up.  Repeat with all of your labels.
5. For small labels you will want to apply another light coat of coffee.  For bigger labels, skip the extra coffee and instead try to push out any air bubbles.
6. Bake for about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes for smaller labels and 3 - 3 1/2 minutes for larger ones.  Watch them closely to make sure they don't bake for too long.
7. Once they are cool, remove them from the cookie sheet and glue them onto your bottles with a regular old glue stick.

Fill Them Up

1. Fur of Werewolf - hormel bacon bits bottle - clippings from my son's last hair cut.
2. Jimsonweed - bottle from JoAnn's - poppy seeds
3. Love Potion - worchestershire sauce bottle - worchestershire sauce
4. Belladonna - bottle from JoAnn's - oregano leaves
5. Rauvolfia Vomitonia (devil's pepper) - archer farms spice bottle - cayenne pepper
6. Old Hag Cackle Extract - brer rabbit molasses jar - molasses
7. Vanishing Potion - bottle from JoAnn's - 1 drop red food coloring, 2 drops yellow food coloring diluted with water
8. Mummy Dust - jar from Goodwill - dried chopped garlic from dollar tree
9. Elixir of Hemlock - crown royal black liquor bottle - vanilla extract diluted with water
10. White Snakeroot - jar from JoAnn's - table salt
11. Life Sucking Potion - glenfiddich liquor bottle - water with just a bit of dish soap to make it bubbly
12. Black of Night - liquid smoke bottle - liquid smoke
13. Scream of Fright - balsamic vinegar bottle - balsamic vinegar
14. Blood of the Undead - mini liquor bottle - raspberry coffee flavoring
15. Life Renewal Potion - bottle from JoAnn's - 1 drop green food coloring, 1 drop yellow food coloring, diluted with water
16. Snake Venom - vanilla extract bottle - water
17. Toadstool - sweet pickle relish jar - mushrooms
18. Henbane - bottle from JoAnn's - powdered chicken bullion from dollar tree

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