DIY 5 Minute Seltzer Bottles French Makeover with Free printable!

Hello, Graphics Fairy’s friends! I’m Diana from Dreams Factory and I’m here for our monthly creative get together. I have a really stylish project to share with you today and this just might qualify as the quickest DIY project ever, too – I’ll show you how to give your vintage seltzer bottles a French makeover in just 5 minutes!

First of all, I’m just assuming you are like me, an aficionado of all things vintage, chippy and distressed, antiques that beautifully wear their age throughout the years. I just love gathering unique items that tell a story simply by looking at them and finding that special place for them in our home. These two particular seltzer bottles were a gift from my aunt – she found them while cleaning the attic – and I was extremely happy when I received them.

They were simply perfect! Their amazing turquoise color and all the other vintage-sh details made my home decor oriented adult mind instantly adore them! 🙂 But they also triggered so many childhood memories! I remember that both me and my sister were so excited whenever we spent our holidays at my aunt’s house during the summer … because it was the only place we knew that had these intriguing, colored (usually dark green) bottles that instantly served … refreshing bubbly water! It was such a treat! 🙂

The bottles were charming on their own, but adding my personal touches and making them more ‘in tune’  with my own tastes and home decor style was somehow the next logical step. And even though I don’t live in France, I adore to ‘Frenchify’ things in general – as I’m sure you already know by now. I just knew I HAD to make some special French labels for these beautiful turquoise seltzer bottles the minute I received them. So I created some large oval labels with handwritten elements, stamps, French ephemera and other visually appealing graphics  that I’m hoping will help you Frenchify your antique seltzer bottles, too! 🙂

—-> Click HERE to Download the Full Size Printable PDF <—-

DIY 5 Minute Seltzer Bottles French Makeover

SUPPLIES:

• oval French labels (the printable)
• seltzer bottles
• cardstock paper or regular paper
• ink or laserjet printer 
• scissors
• a brush
• Mod Podge
• paper towels

The makeover itself is quite an effortless process that will not take more than 5 minutes of your time! You simply:

1. Gather all the materials and print the French labels.
2. Use your scissors to cut the labels, following the outside black border and removing all the white excess paper.
3. Decide which labels to use. OK, I’ll have to admit that this was the hardest part, because I really loved ALL the labels that I created. Choosing only two proved to be quite a difficult task! 🙂

But I finally decided to go with these two lovelies over here.

4. Put a piece of paper towel on your working table and use a brush to add some Mod Podge to the back of the label. Placing the label face down on the paper towel will help you add a uniform layer of adhesive all over its surface.

5. Place the French label on your seltzer bottle and try to center it as much as you can. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect – imperfect is the new perfect, haven’t you heard? 🙂

6. Use another paper towel to remove all the air bubbles, starting from the middle and going outwards in all directions. Follow the same step for all your bottles.

7. If you want to give your labels a little more of that ageing factor, you can tear or even wrinkle them before or right after gluing them onto the bottles. This step is totally optional, but I love these small details that just add a little bit of character.

8. You can simply stop at this point and just admire your work … or complete this one final (optional) step – adding a coat of Mod Podge all over the labels. After drying, this will create a translucent film on your labels, that will protect and make them more resistant in time.

NOTE: If you used an inkjet printer when printing the labels, I would suggest skipping this step.

As you can see, I preferred simply gluing the labels onto the bottles, but you can use other image transfer techniques – 12 Easy Image Transfer Techniques.

That’s it! Your 5 Minute Seltzer Bottles French Makeover is now complete, the last thing you’ll need to do is find them the perfect place in your home!

You can use vintage books, sheer fabric scraps, delicate flowers or other lovely items from your stash to create chic Frenchified vignettes that would complement your home decor.

It’s so easy to integrate them into your home, regardless of the season, like so many of the projects that I shared here on The Graphics Fairy and on Dreams Factory, my blog. Having multiple options is never boring! You can use seasonal flowers and seasonal colors and you’ll have a highly adaptable ever changing and stylish decor that you can play, experiment and have fun with.

Use fresh or dried lavender flowers to get more of that ethereal Provencal feel (that we all love) into your home and you’ll have both a sophisticated and also a heavenly scented decor!

P.S. A beautifully Frenchified enamel pitcher from IKEA might help too, you can find the project on my blog – DIY French Vases (Ikea hack).

Use vintage terracotta plates, vintage books and dried roses for a more rustic feel. And if you are really really really a fan of vintage and rusty, you could give the seltzer labels a complete makeover (before attaching them to the bottles) by using my technique of adding a faux rust effect using cinnamon sugar and coffee – like I did with these DIY Faux Rusted French Labels here.

Now it’s your turn! Gather all those beautiful seltzer bottles that you’ve been saving for quite some time and show them a little bit of love! This DIY 5 Minute Seltzer Bottles French Makeover is one of those super easy but also super stylish projects that you just HAVE to try! 🙂

Happy crafting,
Diana / Dreams Factory