Sunday, August 28, 2011

DIY Custom Water Bottle Labels

This is a pretty cheap and easy way to customize any party you throw - big or small.

It is a little time consuming if you're making a 100 or more like I did for our wedding, but for something like a birthday party, you could whip these up pretty quickly.

Supplies:
Water bottles (I bought a 24 pack at Target for $2.47)
Packing Tape ($1.99)
Scotch Tape (on hand)
Printer Paper (on hand)
Scissors (on hand)
Paper cutter (on hand, but can be bought cheaply at Hobby Lobby, Michael's or JoAnn's)
Microsoft Word, Power Point (or whatever program you choose to design your label)

Step 1: Design your label

I used Microsoft Word to design my labels. Here is my attempt at explaining to you how I did it. Sorry if it isn't clear. If you aren't up for designing your own labels, a simple google search will yield you plenty of free printable templates.

  • Go to Insert, then Shape and select the rectangle.
  • Right click on your rectangle and select Format Shape (there also should be a short cut at the top right of the screen) and change the size of your rectangle. 8.5 inches width by 2 inches length will work for most bottles. 
  • Change your shape fill to "no fill", and your outline to a very light gray so you have lines for cutting later. Now you have the basic outline for your labels. 
  • You can add in a picture or text of your choosing to design your label. 
  • After you have designed your label, you can group the shape, pictures and words together. 
  • Right click to copy the entire group. Then, paste several times down the length of the page. You should be able to fit 5 labels per page.  
 My labels, laminated and ready to go.

Step 2: Print, cut and "Laminate"
If you want your labels to be water proof you will need to "laminate" them with packing tape (I do, because mine will likely be in an ice bucket. If yours will be in a refrigerator, you probably can skip this step and simply tape your labels onto your bottles). 

This takes a little trial and error to learn how to do it smoothly and without getting your tape wrinkled, but it's pretty self explanatory. 

Lay a piece of tape over the top of each side and trim the ends as necessary. 

Step 3: Remove old labels, affix new pretty labels
Cut off your old labels and take your custom label and wrap it in it's place, securing with a piece of scotch table. 

 Newly labeled bottles with pile of old labels.



That's all folks! 
It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I found that I actually got a "cleaner" look and didn't mess up as much when I laminated while doing something else (watching TV) because I wasn't over analyzing.

<3 Ashley

3 comments:

Rebecca said...

This is such a cute and fun idea!! Thanks for the tutorial :)

Jenna Duty said...

that's such a cute idea!!! so creative!

xoxox
Jenna Duty

www.thedutyfamily.blogspot.com

Eric said...

Great idea.It's really nice creativity.Thanks for sharing such a wonderful post.
-water bottle