I'm pretty sure I had way to much fun with these potion bottle decorations. Between coming up with the names and then making them look "realistic" by deciding what to put inside...yep, way too much fun!
Disclosure: OrientalTrading.com supplied us with these complementary bottles as part of our Homemade Halloween series. All opinions and ideas are, as always, my own.
I started out by searching online for potion bottle labels. I found tons...even loads of great ones, but I still opted to try to make my own. Using Canva, I looked for a background that would seem old-ish and searched the fonts for something that look "just right". This is what I came up with...
I started out by searching online for potion bottle labels. I found tons...even loads of great ones, but I still opted to try to make my own. Using Canva, I looked for a background that would seem old-ish and searched the fonts for something that look "just right". This is what I came up with...
Of course, my printer decided to run out of ink (grr!) so I had to trace over some of the words with a thin-point Sharpie.
But the glass bottles...something wasn't right with them. Potions wouldn't be in a perfect, crystal-clear bottle. At least not in my imagination. I usedsand paper to scruff them up and make them look more worn. After I glued on the labels, it will time for the really fun part..."creating" the potions!
The vampire blood is made of water with some drops of acrylic paint. It looks thick-ish, and the paint even seeped through the cork on the top, adding to the realism. (I could tell you I did all of that on purpose, but...nope. I was only going for the color...the rest was a bonus!)
Felix Felicis is from Harry Potter, of course. I was aiming for a "molted gold" color, as it's described in the book. I ended up using yellow food coloring. The truth serum is green food coloring...just because.
There seemed no question that the poison should be black. I stood up a marker in the bottle with water already in it and left it just a few minutes and I had my "poison". The love potion was colored pink with the same technique. Fairy dust had to be glitter...and I only spilled a little on the floor!
Kay really got into it, though I wouldn't let her actually touch them (glass? And then I could just see all that "fairy dust" everywhere...no way!). But she loved the name Felix Felicis and idea of a truth serum. (I'm not sure she really got that they weren't real, though!)
If you're interested, you can use the potion labels I made, at least as a starting point. The first page is a bit disjointed, the second one I neated up a bit for you. And it's editable so you can play around with it if you'd like. Have fun with it!
What potion would you make if you could? Leave a name for it if you can think of one...I'll need some ideas for next year!
I'm teaming up with some wonderfully creative bloggers to bring you awesome DIY ideas for Halloween!
Find more projects at the main Homemade Halloween page and
even more DIY Halloween ideas on Pinterest!
