The Yellow Barn: Covered Pill Bottles

Seriously, let's just take a moment and appreciate the ~~beautiful~~ weather outside here in Indiana... just kidding! We are under a winter weather advisory right now, and of course it's snowing outside. (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the snow, I just am not quite ready for it, yet. Especially since we had a horrible winter last year. Welcome to the Midwest, right?!)

Ok, so this DIY is EXTREMELY simple, easy, and cheap! There is a disclaimer that my husband said I should probably include (his inner wanna-be-cop came out, haha), so before we get started...

***DO NOT carry these covered pill bottles in your purse, car, or anywhere else where you may be stopped by law enforcement. They are mainly for home use.***

So, for the record, all of these pill bottles are the ones I have saved over the years - I do NOT take this much medicine in one day. Whew, thank the good Lord! I only HAVE to take 1 medicine a day - my Metformin for high blood sugar (no, I am not diabetic, I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic in my late teen years... long story that I will spare you). I had this pill bottle sitting on my bathroom sink since we moved in. I HATED looking at it every single day. I didn't like the color, it didn't match anything (I have issues, I know), and it just stuck out like a sore thumb. So I figured out a way to keep it on my sink, but make it into something a little more pleasing to the eye...

Much better than those BRIGHT orange bottles... or whatever color your medicine hides in.

So whether you keep your medicine in your bathroom like me, or in the kitchen, or anywhere, look how bad these bottles stick out...

But with a few simple tools, and a few minutes, you can make make-over your pill bottles.

Here are the tools I used:

1. A Paper Cutter (I got mine from Wal-mart)

2. Scrap-book Paper (Hobby Lobby)

3. 3D Letter Stickers (Hobby Lobby)

4. Circle Stickers (Hobby Lobby)

5. Permanent Markers (I use Sharpie's, and I usually get them from Office Depot)

6. Glitter Letter Stickers (here's something similar at Hobby Lobby)

7. Pill Bottles

8. Scissors (Office Depot)

9. A Pen (Office Depot)

10. Tape (Office Depot)

The letter stickers and markers are for the pill bottle cap, to either write what medicine it is, how many times a day you have to take it, whom it's for, or in what order you take it. You can even paint the caps, glitter-ize them, or whatever your little DIY heart desires. I just wanted them all white.

So the first, and most important step is to take a photo of the label (or write down all the important details like the prescription number, the amount of refills, the date the refills run out, the pharmacy phone number, the doctor who prescribed the medicine, and any important notes about how to take the medicine. VERY IMPORTANT, because you will be covering the label completely!

Next you will want to find a scrap piece of paper (I used a scrap of the scrap-booking paper), so you can measure the height of the bottle. Now, it's very important that you measure from the bottom of the "lip/ridge/edge" of where the cap screws onto the bottle. So if you look at the photo below, I lined the paper up with the bottom of the lip, where the cap goes on.

After that, make a small mark on your scrap piece of paper, or your "guide". Then you take the scrapbook paper you want to cover your bottle with, turn it to the back side, and mark 3 spots on the length of the paper, using your guide.

Next, you'll want to make sure you have enough paper to make it all the way around the bottle. I just took the bottle and rolled the paper around it, and made a small mark close to where the end was - a little overlapping is GOOD!

Once you have all of your marks, just take your paper cutter and slice through.

Just make sure you line up your marks with the edge of the cutter. AND BE CAREFUL, that blade is SHARP!

Finally, all you have to do is take a piece of tape and adhere the paper to the bottle, roll it around the entire bottle and tape off the end.

I used matte tape here, but it looks better in person than on here because I wanted to make it noticeable of where the tape was placed. You can always use double-sided tape, or even glue. I just didn't have the time for that at the moment. And here is the final piece...

And here is the top...

Again, do whatever you can to make sure you take your medicine how it is prescribed, by writing it on the cap, or what I did was to write the medicine on the bottom with a permanent marker. I can't stress this point enough! I don't want anyone rushed to the hospital because they covered their label and forgot when to take their medicine.

So we went from...