Fairy Dust Bottles How-To

Check out this easy how-to tutorial on how to make wee fairy dust bottles! Perfect for gifting, decorations, and party favors! 

I've been making my wee fairy bottles for a long while now and I use them for just about everything: they make cute necklaces, great gifts, and look beautiful hanging on a Christmas tree! I've also found that the aged labels (along with glitter--of course) make any ornament a thousand times better. 

This tutorial will take you step by step on how to make these wee treasures all on your own! 

STEP ONE: Print out labels on your printer. This has forever been my favorite font (Blackadder ITC), but get creative! The bottles are small and narrow so I like to stack and center the words. I always make a variety of labels. 

 

STEP 2: Brew a strong cup of coffee! But don't drink it! You'll need coffee to age your paper. 

STEP 3: Rip your labels up into tiny bits and put them on a cookie sheet. Feel free to add in additional bits of paper to "layer" your labels. You can see on the first photo, I aged and used a festive printed paper to layer the labels! 

STEP 4: Pour the coffee over your labels, let them slosh around for a moment and soak it up (don't we really all want to be doing that with coffee??) and then pour off the excess. If you are aging additional papers, just pour the excess back in the cup. The stronger it gets, the better aged your papers! Bake at 250 degrees until your paper is dry. It'll be like 10 min. For the love of god keep an eye on it. Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for any fires you start. 

Two comments about this step: 

• My children love this step! The house smells really good. Like old books and coffee.
• I have a new "fancy" printer and my labels smudged for the first time ever! I'm going to have to do some experimenting to see what the problem is, but the labels I made today are not as clear or pretty as previous years. I say this to illuminate the point that crafts are not "PERFECT." These are going on my tree at home, they will be fine, but stay tuned for printer suggestions. UGH. 
• I'm serious. I'm not responsible for any house fires or damage you may incur. 

STEP 5: Yay! Your labels are done! Get out your Mod Podge and your tiny bottles and glitter girl, cuz we are about to have some fun! 

I buy my tiny bottles at hobby lobby. They are cheap. I love to find a variety of sizes to play with!

**See how the labels are fuzzy??? Annoying!! Glitter will definitely help!

Okay, so here you see the full arsenal of fun. We are going to put random bits of magic into the bottles first, then we are going to affix the labels.  See the big jar of pixie dust bottles in the back?? I feel like we all need this in our lives...and glitter. ALL THE GLITTER!

STEP 6: I fill my bottles with MAGIC!! The bottles are filled with random things I have in my studio.  You could literally get dandelion seeds and put them in a bottle and label them. That's magic. I've also rolled up a tiny scroll of aged paper and shoved it inside a bottle with a secret message. Seriously, think outside the box! What do you want to put in your tiny magic bottle? 

STEP 7: To affix your labels you put mod podge on your fingers, affix it to the bottle and rub it over the top too. BOTH SIDES. I love glossy mod podge and that's all I ever use. Before it dries, sprinkle glitter over it. I use super fine poly type glitter. I also sometimes let one layer dry and add another. 

STEP 8: After the labels dry it's time for the tiny ties. You can use ribbon, twine or ripped lace/fabrics. 

 

I'll let these dry overnight and then I'll hang them on the Christmas tree (using additional ribbon--you could also put eye-hooks in the corks!).  

**See how clearly the "dead man's toe" looks? That's with my former printer...grrrrr.....