Slytherin's Secret Potions

Since I didn't babysit my granddaughter last night I had some extra time to play in my craft room last night.  So  I took the opportunity to begin making the first of what will be many items to come for my new craft room.  You see, my two youngest boys are in process of moving out of the house and that means a free, larger room that I can take over for my craft room.  And with that means a new décor - Harry Potter themed of course.  😀

 

This project was inspired by one I saw at Over the Big Moon.  There were two posts that together made for a great potions set.  One offered free potion labels to print (which is where a couple of mine came from - others I found doing searches for them specifically), and the other was for the potions book.  Using her inspiration, here's how I created my project......

 

For the potions book, I used book I purchased from the Dollar Tree.  That way I wouldn't feel bad about cutting it up.  Measuring the cover, I cut an opening in the center of the cover using an Exacto knife.  I then used the knife to scrape around the edges of the opening to rough it up a bit.  I also sanded over the cover (front and back) to rough it up and to remove the indention of the book title from the spine.  Once satisfied with the roughness, I mixed together Ivy Green and White craft paints and with a sponge painted over the cover. 

 

While the paint dried I found a picture of Professor Snapes, printed it and then laminated it.  This would later be taped to the inside cover of the book.  I cut the book title out in vinyl and applied.  No one really knows the "exact" date that Hogwarts was founded but what everyone does seem to agree on is that it was "around" 990 AD. Some use that date and others I've seen using 993 - so I went with 993 for my book date.

 

The potion bottles were various apothecary bottles I picked up at Hobby Lobby - although you could use bottles from around the home.  Before I painted my bottles I tried roughing them up using sandpaper.  However, that wasn't working too well so I decided to try dragging them gently across my brick pavers which worked beautifully. 

 

After roughing up the bottles I painted them with different mediums.  The blue and white bottles were painted with Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint.  I also used a clear crackle paint on my Dragon's Blood bottle and then used red alcohol ink on the inside.  The brown bottle I painted using a dark brown paint mixed with a dab of water.  After applying the paint I immediately began wiping it away with a paper towel.  Once dried I came back with a gray paint (didn't have black on hand) and splatter it haphazardly around the bottle.  For my Floo Powder jar I used Krylon Glitter Blast spray paint in Diamond Dust.

 

After printing and cutting out my labels I distressed the edges with my Tim Holtz paper distresser.  I then wrinkled each one up and inked over them with Tea dye Distress Ink (Dragon's Blood I did with Fired Brick).  I then ran the labels through my Xyron and applied them to the bottles.  I then sprayed the bottles with a laquer spray paint to seal.

 

Right now only two of the bottles have "ingredients".  The Floo Powder I filled with a glow in the dark glitter and for the slug repellent I used a mixture of purple/silver glitter with a brown flock.  I haven't decided what, if anything, I'll use in my other bottles.  Since they are not as transparent I may just leave them as they are.