A Halloween Apothecary

I get SO giddy when it's time to put together my Halloween Apothecary. It's been a tradition of mine for many years but it hasn't always been in the same place. When we were first married, I made a tiny apothecary with just a few jars and a skeleton and made a table centerpiece with it. Then it went on a shelf, then a few more shelves of a bookshelf we’re taken over. For the last few years I have decorated my entire china hutch. 

This is what it normally looks like. Kev and I found a few strip lights at Costco that rocked my world. One is white and can be used year round. The other? TONS of colors and can switch eerily from one to the other. They are both permanently attached and I adore them. I got mine from Ikea. 

Link for the white one:

Link for the colored lights:

Here's a time lapse of me putting the whole thing together. Enjoy!!!

Isn't it delightfully creepy how lighting can change everything??? Here are some up close pics as I was putting everything together. Most of the larger bottles with no labels came from my friend’s restaurant. She was kind enough to save them for me for a book club event I was doing. I CLEARED out my pantry and used all of the bottles to make a wine cellar. After it was all over I had HUNDREDS of them. I gave them to quite a few neighbors and kept the rest for potion bottles. Many of the bottles I also made (sharing more on the how to for that later) using labels I found on Pinterest and Etsy. Some I purchased at Michaels (one of my FAVE go to stores for Halloween) and others from various little boutiques. My amazing friend Maureen over at Mo Creations made me my poisoned apple and the cute Mandrake = ). My oldest son drew the llama for my extract of llama potion bottle and my friend Libby over at the Cozy Coffin made the Frog’s Breath.

My last creepy enhancing act was to grab some creeping thyme clippings from the yard and the cheapy dollar store cobwebs. Willow tree clippings would be cool too! I can’t wait to add more things next year!!! Do YOU do an apothecary for Halloween? Where is yours? What do you put in it? I’m “dying” for more ideas LOL!!!