How to Make Custom Water Bottle Labels (free SpongeBob SquarePants printable)
UPDATE: I also have a free printable for Inspirational water bottle labels posted!
As you know, my son has requested a SpongeBob SquarePants birthday party this year and I’m trying to avoid spending a ton of money on the commercialized products at our local party store. Okay, so I gave in on a few SpongeBob square plates, napkins, and cups, but I’m trying to make other things with my new found crafty side. Today I’m going to show you how to make custom water bottle labels and just in case you don’t want to put in the work, I’ve provided you with a free printable as well!
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the custom invitations, I like to use Ribbet.com for my image editing. Others tend to use PicMonkey, but I just prefer Ribbet’s simplicity and I’m just used to it now.
Step 1 – Create a blank canvas
Since I will be taking these to my local printing store (Office Max) I decided to start with a 8.5 x 11 inch blank canvas. You can make it whatever size you want to print, but start with a blank canvas in the color of your choosing. I went with white because I’m going to add yellow labels and I want to have a clear cutting line. (They will actually cut it for me at Office Max as well – bonus!).
Step 2 – Add a rectangle to your blank canvas
I use the rectangle under Basic Geometric shapes because it can be sized up/down and left/right without having to stick to certain measurements. It will appear as black, but we are going to change the color in the next step.
Step 3 – Create the label rectangle
Stretch the rectangle to the width of your canvas and adjust the height. We are going to fit 5 labels on one sheet so you’ll have to guesstimate on the height. I changed my rectangle to CSS color #FFF52B because that is the closest to SpongeBob yellow that I could find.
Step 4 – Duplicate labels and add images/text
Right click on the first label that you made and make a duplicate times 5 and spread them out across the page. This way you have the same size and color label five times. Go to your Photo Basket where you have uploaded your image of SpongeBob (see below for mine) and add him to the label or customize as you would like. You may want text or shapes on the labels as well. I should have put sponge holes on my labels with CSS color #C2AB00, but I forgot. It’s easy to add them if you look at yesterday’s tutorial.
Here is the image that I used for the middle of my labels. I had to downsize it once I did the drag and drop on the actual labels, but once it was small, I just did a right click and duplicate so they would all be the same size. You can right click and save this image to your computer if you would like to use it as well.
Step 5 – Finish your labels and save for printing
Once you have SpongeBob in place (or whatever image you choose) in position and sized correctly, just right click and duplicate for all five labels. Then, click on Save and save it to your desktop for printing.
Free Printable
Here is my finished product and if you click on the image above, you can right click and save it to your own desktop for use.
In order to add them to your water bottles, just get some packing tape and cover the label, leaving some tape on the ends so it will stick to the water bottle. Wrap the bottle and secure with tape.
Have Fun!
Great tutorial! My son’s birthday is in August and I made water bottle labels following your instructions but can you tell me how you went about uploading them to Office Max and having them cut them for you also? Thanks in advance!
At my Office Max, they have a special email address where you send your files and they pull it up on their computer. I live in a small town so I’m not sure if they all do that.
Thanks for the tutorial!!!!
I use rubber cement to put my labels on!
Instead of packing tape I use my trusty xyron sticker maker for water bottle labels. LOVE how easy it is to do. These are absolutely adorable. Cannot wait to see this party!
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Thanks, Danielle! A sticker maker would have been amazing, but I had to work with what I had handy. I used clear Duck tape and it worked great! I’ll post the pics on Monday of the whole party!