A very thin and flexible 1.3 mil. clear laminant (FlexiFilm Gloss™) is applied to the design side of your label, while a strong adhesive-backed laminant (FlexiFilm Adhesive™) is applied to the back side, leaving your finished label both waterproof and flexible.  The Big Mouth 12" Pouch Laminator is an excellent machine which always gives me professional results. 

Whether using heat or cold laminating, to ensure that your finished label is waterproof, you must be sure to leave an approximately 1/8" clear laminant margin around the entire cut edge of your design.  Otherwise, water (and sometimes humidity) can wick into your design through the paper fibers along the edge of the label and ruin it by causing the ink to run.

Follow these easy steps to create your waterproof labels using the heat laminating method:

• Create your label in your graphics design program.
• Print your design on good quality, medium to heavy weight paper.  A print resolution of 720 dpi or higher is recommended.  The only white paper I ever use for computer crafting is Great White Consumer Coated Ink Jet Paper, 93 Bright, 37 lb., 8-1/2"x11" .  It's a bit costlier than other plain white computer papers, but it's well worth it; try it just once and you'll agree!
• With scissors, paper cutter, and/or decorative-edge sheers (such as Fiskars Long & Wide Paper Edgers), cut your labels to their exact finished size.
• Cut a piece of adhesive-backed roll laminant large enough to place your finished labels on leaving at least 1/2" of space around all sides of each label.  (Your piece of cut laminant must also be small enough to fit inside the laminating carrier.)
• Cut a piece of 1.3 mil. OptiClearŪ (or FlexiFilm Gloss) laminant to the same size as the cut adhesive-backed laminant.
• Open your laminating carrier and place the piece of adhesive-backed laminant inside.  It will want to curl upward, so you will need to place a weight (such as a book) on each end to temporarily hold it flat.
• Arrange your cut labels on top of the adhesive-backed laminant, leaving the 1/2" of space around each label.  Place the sheet of 1.3 mil. laminant (glossy side UP) on top of the labels.  Carefully remove the weights while closing the carrier, making sure the laminant is smooth (no air pockets or folds) and your labels don't shift.
• Feed the carrier through the heat laminator.  Allow the carrier to cool, and remove your sheet of labels.
• With scissors or paper cutter, cut out each individual label 1/8" from the edge of the design.

Your finished label will look like there is a white margin all the way around your label, but once you peel the protective paper from the adhesive back of your design to apply the label to a container, the margin around your label will be clear.

• Remove the manufacturer's paper labels from the bottle (do not remove the foil around the neck of the bottle).  The easiest way I've found to do this is by placing the bottle into a gallon-size pitcher (or use a small plastic trash can), add about 3-4 good squirts of liquid dish soap, and fill with very warm (not hot!!) water up to the paper label at the bottom of the foil.  Allow this to sit for several hours (I put mine to soak overnight before going to bed) to soften the labels.  The labels will now easily scrape off.  Rinse and towel dry the bottle.
• If you create your label designs on a high-quality paper such as Great White Consumer Coated Ink Jet Paper, 93 Bright, 37 lb., 8-1/2"x11" , it won't be necessary to remove any of the manufacturer's labels on the bottle; just remove the price sticker. The personalized labels are applied over the bottle's original labels; just make them a tad larger than the dimensions of the front and back label. 
• Cut a piece of gold foil wrapping paper to fit around the neck of the bottle, covering up the foil that comes on the bottle; the foil should be about 1" above the bottle cork.  Use a small piece of tape to secure the foil at the center back of the neck, then wrap it around the neck and secure with another small piece of tape. Put your hands around the "tube" of gold foil paper and "scrunch" it so it hugs the neck of the bottle. Fold the top of the foil tube over, toward the back of the bottle, and scrunch it down securing it with a small piece of tape.  (NOTE:  The gold foil paper can be found in the cake decorating section of Michaels craft stores; it's sold as cake board foil.  Or use gold foil Christmas wrapping paper.)
• Next, cut a piece of gold Funky Tape to go all the way around the bottom edge of the gold foil paper you just applied so it holds the bottom edge of the gold foil paper to the bottle. (This is great, because you don't have to worry about cutting that gold foil paper super straight as the Funky Tape will cover up the bottom edge.)
• Now peel the backing off the 3 labels you've created.   Apply the front and back labels; apply the neck label on the front around the bottom edge of the gold foil paper (only goes part way around).
• Cut a 30-inch length of your wide, gold metallic, WIRED ribbon.  Tie it into a pretty bow and get it situated front and center.  Secure the bow by squeezing a dab of tacky white glue behind the knot of the bow. If desired, place a tiny sticker with your business name and phone number on the bottom of the bottle.

Of course, you're not limited to the embellishments described above.  Your bottle might look better with a bunch of colorful curled ribbons or balloons tied to the neck, dried flowers, or something more simple.  Bring your own creativity into your design.

By combining beautiful custom-labeled bottles with other crafts shown on this website (candies, bag tag gifts, notepads, etc.), you'll be able to create incredible gift baskets suitable for absolutely any gift-giving occasion.  

CHEERS!