Halloween Apothecary Jar

     Are you ready for some frightful fun?  Halloween is next month, and it's about time for us crafters to get started on our spooky decor for the holiday.  Today, I have the perfect project lined up so that you will be ready for some ghoulish fun... A Halloween Apothecary Jar!  

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Let's get started!

You will need

Glass jar

Black Chalky Finish

Acrylic Paint (Assorted Colors) 

Brown Paint or Distress Ink

Brown or Black Paint Marker or Felt Pen

Scissors

Glue Gun

Cardstock

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Step 1: Take the top off your jar if it comes with one. Squirt some hot glue onto the rim of the jar and let it run down the sides.  Don't let it run too much!

Step 2(not pictured): After your glue is dry, paint the entire jar with the black chalky finish.  It doesn't have to be perfect!  Remember, it's old and distressed.  Unless you want to sand it later, let your dry brush to all the work.  Leave some pockets of glass visible.  Streaks?  Who cares! Also, keep in mind that you want to leave the glue gun "leaks" on the rim of your jar as clear as you can.

Step 3: Draw/write your label onto your cardstock and cut it out.  I recommend using a brown or black pen to stick to the vintage look. 

Step 4: Crumble up your label.  Yup.  Do it.  This will make it look more old and distressed because of the added texture.

 

Step 5: Now you want to unfold your label again and then weather your label with some brown paint.  Use a dry brush and very little paint.  Mod Podge this label onto your jar and let dry.

Step 6: Distress your jar even further by using your dry brush and some green paint to add more detail to the leaks. You can make it more dimensional by adding gold to your leaks.  I decided to streak just a little bit of the green and gold onto the rest of the jar as well.  It's okay if you go over the label a little bit too, as long as you stick to the borders.

 Step 7: This part is optional, but hot-gluing some moss onto the sides and top of your jar will add a really creepy and Witch-y look.

Also, if you have a cork that fits your jar, or if you're lucky and your jar already cam with one, you can make it look dingier by lightly staining it brown to make it darker.  After that, hot glue bits of moss onto it and glue it back onto your jar!

     All you Potterheads out there, make some noise!  Apothecary jars are that perfect mix of creepy, dark, mysterious, magical and fascinating.  What's cooler feeling like you have all the different ingredients around you to make a potion or conduct a spell?  Now, you can!  Create your own apothecary and potion jars this Halloween for some magical decor!  Then, you can invite friends and family to "Come sit for a spell.." (Ba dum TSS!)  

As always, have FUN and see you next week!

Erika @ PC

Mermaid Tears Potion Ingredient Vial

Hello again, crafters!  Today, I'm going to show you another great use for the shatterproof ornaments that we have at our stores.  Instead of something Christmasy though, we're going to do something a little more... mystical: a potion ingredient vial!

Here's what you'll need.

~ 2 inch shatterproof ornament

~ Glitter-It

~ fine glitter in teal and iridescent white

~ funnel

~ thin cream-colored cardstock

~ fine-tip Sharpie

~ crayon in brown or copper

~ scissors

~cork

~ twine 

~ small starfish (optional)

(And now for those I forgot to include in the picture...)

~ Decopage

~ Paintbrush

~ Hot glue gun 

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Let's get started!

First, take the top off your ornament.  Pour enough Glitter-It into it to coat the inside and swirl around, making sure to get the "shoulders" as well.

Mix the two glitters together and pour into the ornament using the funnel.  Swirl the glitter around for an even coat.  Be careful of lumps!  Set your ornament aside to dry.

Next, sketch label shapes on your piece of card stock.  Mine was about 1 1/2 inches wide and about 3/4 of an inch tall.  Write the name of your potion with the fine tip Sharpie.

After cutting your label out, darken the edges with the crayon and lightly color toward the center of the label for a gradient effect.

Next, brush some decoupage onto the front of your ornament.

Stick your label on and brush even more decoupage on top to seal.  The paper will be a little stiff, so to make sure that the whole label sticks onto the surface of the ornament, saturate it with enough decoupage so that it softens up and "hugs" the curve of the surface.  Let dry.

Pop the cork into the top and wrap the lip of the ornament with twine, finishing it off with a pretty bow!

This part is optional, but to add a little more "ocean" flavor to the piece, I hot-glued a small starfish to the cork.  There you have it! 

It's always fun to think of new uses for the ornaments.  Because Halloween's coming up, why not make a bunch of different potions using the different shapes of shatterproof ornaments we have available at our stores? What ridiculous or mysterious ingredients or potions can you come up with?

Have fun!

Erika @ PC