Any old bottle will do! I rifiled through my recycling bin and selected an assortment of different shapes and sizes. If you have some cool looking ones, those will be the most unique, but it's not required AT ALL.

I used an assortment of glass bottles, plastic pill bottles, and some vial shaped ones I found in the dollar section at Target. The one I used for Devil's Trumpet is a plastic orange juice bottle, and the Death Cap is a little tin formerly containing Trader Joe's Smoked Paprika. You can really use anything you have on hand, this project is about keeping it low cost & as easy as possible! Bottles from olive oil, syrup, wine etc will work, small spice jars, empty pill bottles, even regular old mason jars are great options!

For the best impact, choose a variety of shapes and sizes. They don't have to be clear, either - which brings us to the next step!

Clean the bottles as best you can and remove the labels.

If you have nail polish remover or acetone on hand, use that to remove paper labels that won't come off. The easiest way I found is to wrap the bottle or jar in a strip of paper towel, pour on the acetone, and let it sit for 10 minutes. It should easily peel off and not leave a residue.

Other ways that work fine are using a scraper or razor blade, hot soapy water, or Goo Gone/some kind of oil.

Caps are optional! Save 'em if you want, or ditch 'em. I used a combination of things to seal mine, but that's later!

If you want pristine neat & clean bottles, you can apply your labels now. I chose to really mess mine up, which involved....

Using coarse sandpaper, rough up your bottles a bit. The thing I love about Halloween decor is that the crappier it looks, the spookier, so I encourage you to take this opportunity and really go off the rails. Sand in multiple directions, hit some spots harder than others, be as sloppy as you want. This will add some texture and help the paint stick to the bottles better.

To paint bottles opaque, you can use acrylic paint, chalkboard paint, or really, whatever you have lying around. I bought a cheap bottle of black poster paint because I wanted it to be matte, but then the poster paint did NOT stick to my bottles. No problem though - I mixed it with some mod podge and some baking soda (more texture) and painted on a few coats.

Again, really don't spend too much time worrying about perfection here - drips and blobs are okay, plus you can always age them down more, or go back for touch ups.

To age clear bottles, you'll want to mix together paint and water to make a wash. I used a few shades of brown and applied a few coats/layers. Fill your brush with your watered down paint and dab it onto the bottle. You can be pretty haphazard here and blotch it on. Then take a cloth or a paper towel and wipe it off.

The wash will adhere to the sanded parts and become a little cloudier. Repeat as necessary! You'll likely want to age the bottles again with the labels on, so just a bit here is fine.

Now we move on to...

Print out your labels to the size you desire. Most of them are relatively small so that they fit on common bottles and jars that you might find in your home.

If you don't have a color printer and want to age your labels before you apply them, choose the black and white labels and age the paper before you cut them out. You can use watercolor, watered down acrylic paint, or even black tea! You could burn the edges, spill coffee on them, really whatever you have laying around.

Cut out your labels as desired. I did not include cut lines - this project is about FREEDOM, baby! Maybe some of them you want a rectangular label. Perhaps some on black bottles you'll want to leave a bit of a border around them. And maybe some you'll want to cut right on the black outlines. Again, your choice entirely.

After you decide which labels go on which bottles, you're ready to apply! I used Mod Podge because I had it. If you don't, you can use regular old Elmer's school glue thinned out with a little bit of water. You could also choose to print on sticker paper and stick 'em right on the bottles, although for that I would still recommend a top layer of mod podge or glue to act as a sealant and preserve the bottles to last for more than one Halloween.

Paint the back of the label with Mod Podge and stick it on your bottle. Use your fingers to smooth it down, applying more adhesive to the edges as needed. Perfection is not essential - bumps, bubbles & ripples are fine and will just add more character! When your label is in place, paint over it with another coat of Mod Podge to seal it down.

All your labels are applied! You can stop here if you want a clean look, or you can really mess them up a bit more by...

Here is where you can get really crazy with the amount of decrepit-ness that you wish to apply. Just like before, you'll want to use a wash first. I used a light brown and a dark brown, using the same technique as above where I dabbed it on and wiped it off.

To add drips and spills, mix your paint with water, but make it a little thicker than the previous wash. Fill your brush, dab it near the opening of your bottle, and let it drip down. If it doesnt drip, fill your brush with water and dab that same spot until it rolls down. Don't like a drip? Wipe it up, it should come right off.

This is where I did a little research and chose some colors of the poisons and potions that would be inside. For instance, Bleeding Heart can be a pink, red, yellow or purple flower, so I added lots of red drips. Wolfsbane is dark purple or dark blue, so I made a wash of that. I had some glow in the dark paint on hand, so I painted the bottle of radium with it.

To fill your bottles, you can use anything you have on hand. This isn't necessary, but if your bottles are clear and you want some things in them, you may want to add stuff!

Because I wanted to keep this cheap and not buy more stuff, I went into my yard and rounded up some acorns, sticks, dried up plants, and some mulch. Whatever would fit into the jars that wouldn't rot. Some of them I painted (some acorn tops got painted red for bleeding heart, some dried flowers got painted white for the queen anne's lace and hemlock). And then some of them I just stuffed into the bottles.

I didn't want this stuff to just tumble around in there though. I squeeze some Mod Podge into the bottle on top of the items, covered the lid, and shook it up. For the Queen Anne's Lace and Hemlock, I added in some cornstarch too.

To make colorful potions, mix together water and food coloring. Fill your bottle or jar all the way up with cotton balls. Then pour your colorful liquid over the cotton balls. To make multiple colors, add more drops of food coloring. You can also add glitter here to make it sparkly! I chose not to use any liquids since I want these to last for years, and also because I have a cat who cannot be trusted.

Once your bottles are aged and filled to your liking, time to seal 'em up!

You can put your lids right back onto your bottles and jars and call it a day if you like! OR, you can get *elaborate*...

Round Cork Bottle Stoppers:

I wanted to have cork bottle toppers, but I didn't want to buy them. So I bought an assortment of styrofoam balls and painted them to look like cork as much as I could. Honestly, this was kind of a nightmare and I wasn't sure if it would turn out that great, BUT you know what? From a distance? It's fine.

To make round cork bottle stoppers, you can do what I did and paint styrofoam balls. The best way I found was to stick a toothpick or skewer in each of them, and then prop them upright to dry. I just used a box and punctured holes in it, but you could fill a jar or box with sugar, sand, beans, whatever you've got. Then layer mod podge and paint, letting them dry (or speeding it up using a hair dryer) in between coats.

I ended up doing a bit of sanding in between coats, and alternating between brown, tan, a dry brush of black paint, cream, and another coat of tannish cream. Again... this was a nightmare! You could just reuse (or buy new) regular cork stoppers, or choose another way. But it was the look I wanted!

Custom Shape Bottle Stoppers:

Another part where I maybe went too far, but I have no regrets! You can use hot glue to glue on things you have around your house. Or, what I did, was go to the local art supply store the very second they opened, still in my pajamas, and buy a bunch of Sculpey. I made some skulls, a heart for the bleeding heart, some daggers I didn't end up using, and an eyeball. After you sculpt, you bake your clay items and then you can paint them however you want!

Ideas for other decorative add-ons:

- Wrap bottles with twine & hot glue in place

- Hot glue spanish moss around the opening of the bottle, then hot glue your lid, styrofoam ball cork, or other stopper/topper right on top.

- Use old, cheap jewelry to wrap bottles in chains, or dangle charms on them

- Glue spiders or other halloween-y, spooky shapes onto your bottles

- Use hot glue to draw simple shapes (moons, stars, skulls, spiders etc) or add drips. Paint them when dry!