DIY Halloween Apothecary Jars

I have another quick and easy Halloween recycling project for you today! If you have some empty bottles laying around, don’t throw them away; you can turn them into DIY apothecary jars! With just a little bit of paint and hot glue, I turned these empty containers into apothecary jars for Harry Potter potion ingredients!

These DIY apothecary jars are a great way to recycle empty containers, and perfect quick and easy decor for Halloween! All you need is a jar, hot glue, and paint!

These little potion ingredient jars are the perfect way to recycle empty containers, and they’re a fun decoration for Halloween or a Harry Potter themed party!

DIY Apothecary Jars & Harry Potter Potion Ingredients

Here’s what you need:

  • empty containers, lids optional
  • craft paint (I used black, dark brown, gold, and grey)
  • hot glue gun
  • paint brush
  • paint sponge
  • dauber
  • clay, optional


Start by picking out some empty jars for this project. Size and shape don’t matter; just make sure they’re empty and clean!

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Remove the labels from the jars and clean off any sticky residue.

Once the jars were dry, I wrote on them with a paint marker to give myself a guide for adding the words.

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Then I used my hot glue gun to trace the letters I wrote. It’s slightly awkward to write with a hot glue gun, so it really helps to write on the bottles before you get started!

Give the hot glue a few minutes to dry, then remove the lids, and paint the bottles and lids with a coat of black craft paint. The first coat will be very streaky and won’t cover well at all, but don’t freak out! Once the first coat of paint is dry, add a second coat. For some of these bottles, I actually had to do three coats, so just keep adding coats until they’re fully covered.

Once the bottles and lids are completely black, you’re going to add a bit of color. Using a paint sponge, dab on some brown paint. I used dark brown and gold (non-metallic) to give it a bit of variation. When sponging on paint, it works best if the sponge is mostly dry. I usually squirt some paint out onto a paper plate, dab the sponge into the paint, and then “dry off” the paint on the sponge by dabbing it on a scrap piece of paper a bunch of times until the paint just barely transfers to the paper and no longer looks wet.

Then gently dab the sponge onto the bottles. Make sure to cover the entire surface, even the hot glue words! This will give the bottles a slightly aged, distressed look. Sponge brown paint onto the lids as well so they match the bottles.

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Then mix a little gold and grey paint together and use a small dauber to highlight the hot glue words. Again, mix the colors first, stick the dauber into the paint, then dab the dauber on a piece of scrap paper until about 90% of the paint is gone. You just want a very light coat of paint on the words to help highlight the 3D letters.

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Let the paint dry, then put the lids back on the bottles, and you have your own DIY apothecary jars!

These DIY apothecary jars are a great way to recycle empty containers, and perfect quick and easy decor for Halloween! All you need is a jar, hot glue, and paint!

Even the kitties think they’re pretty cool!

These DIY apothecary jars are a great way to recycle empty containers, and perfect quick and easy decor for Halloween! All you need is a jar, hot glue, and paint!

Finnegan kinda looks like Professor McGonagall when she turns into a cat, right? Kinda? A little bit? 🙂

These DIY apothecary jars are a great way to recycle empty containers, and perfect quick and easy decor for Halloween! All you need is a jar, hot glue, and paint!

These DIY apothecary jars are a great way to recycle empty containers, and perfect quick and easy decor for Halloween! All you need is a jar, hot glue, and paint!

Want to share this tutorial with your friends? Just click any of the share buttons on the left to share with Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.!

If you liked this project, check out these other quick and easy Halloween projects!

Signature

Jessi Wohlwend

I believe that anyone can do crafts and DIY projects, regardless of skill or experience. I love sharing simple craft ideas, step by step DIY project tutorials, cleaning hacks, and other tips and tricks all with one goal in mind: giving you the tools you need to “do it yourself”, complete fun projects, and make awesome things!

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