Thursday, February 3, 2011

DIY Apothecary Bottles

I have always had an affinity for old apothecary bottles. Something about imagining them lined up on the shop shelves always makes me smile. I am not sure why, I mean it's not like I have ever seen an actual Shop or anything, but all those different shaped and colored bottles always catch my eye.

*Sigh* -- HandyMan thinks I am nutty enough but imagine if I said I want to take a fieldtrip here!

We were at a roadside flea market recently and in the very first section I came across two old amber bottles. I went to get a better look and they were actually glass Lysol bottles. The vendor saw me checking them out and said "Those can be yours for $5.00 a piece." I sadly shook my head and said "Sorry I only have one dollar on me." He replied "Well I don't have one of those fancy money machine things so you can just have them both for your $1.00." Hellooo SCORE!! Plus, to make it even sweeter -- every other amber bottle of the same sizes that I saw that day was over $8.00 each!!

Once I got the bottles home they sat on our table while I decided what I wanted to do with them. Then today as I was finishing up The Apothecary's Daughter(appropriate right??!!) I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

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First I washed and dried the bottles. I adore that even though they are clean -- they still look awesomely old!!


Seriously -- a pretty LYSOL bottle?!? In--LOVE
Second I spent an hour a few minutes checking out all fabulous graphics over on The Graphics Fairy blog. If you have not visited her site then be sure to stop by. She has the BEST images anywhere and for any craft project or occasion.

Once I edited(I added some wording to both of them) and printed the ones I wanted I grabbed my trusty Mod-Podge and stuck those babies on the bottles.



I'm in loooveeee

The bottles turned out much better than I ever expected.  However every place I sat them in the house I was not happy with them so I did what any DIYer does -- I went out, gathered some twigs and stuck them in the bottles. Now no matter where I put them they have a unique look to them. :) *I am still on the look-out for some corks to fit them --hint hint H!*


BONUS: HandyMan likes them and was telling me to be on the lookout for all kinds of bottles.Then he mentioned that a glass display case would be a cool place once we acquired a few more. (Soon to be SCORE!) I see the beginnings of a new collection!

Linked Up Places
Check out all the fab projects!

What do you collect? Do you change the items at all or use as is? I'd love to hear about it.




Sidenote: If you have not read The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassan I totally recommend it --Great book. Plus Amazon has the Free Kindle version -- SCORE!

5 comments:

  1. Stopping by from Blue Cricket to see your bottles. What a STEAL!!! You lucked out! I just discovered the Graphics Fairy last night (randomly) and love the labels you did! Nice work!
    Jen
    Scissors & Spatulas

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  2. Those are really cool! Considering my husband is a pharmacist, I really love them. I see you are new to blogging...welcome! Every Monday I have a newbie linky party and this past week I had over 100 new blogs participate. Hope to see you Monday, you will be sure to make some new blogging friends!

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  3. R - Bring your bottles over and go through my corks! I LOVE them with the twigs! Score.

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  4. I love these!!! I have always been a fan of apothecary bottles too! They are just so neat. Great job and thanks for sharing.

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  5. I am always craning my neck as we drive by yard sales with a table full of glassware. What if I'm missing THE perfect bottle?! The windowsill above my kitchen sink is adorned with all my cute little bottle finds. This is such a cool idea! Thanks for sharing!

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