Vintage Decorated Lotion Dispenser

A while back, my neighbor gave me some lotion. I’m not sure why she did but I thought it was a nice gesture.

The brand was Dr Teal with a container, which isn’t particularly my favorite color. It’s okay but it doesn’t make my soul sing like it does with yellow, or orange, or red, or purple,

Plus, the label looked rather medicinal. Not pretty. Not appealing. Kind of like a NyQuil label.

I decided to put the lotion on the desk that we have in our kitchen. It was a great spot because it was convenient to use as I walked by it during the day while cleaning, cooking, gardening, and just generally needing to put lotion on my hands.

But who likes to look at a medicinal bottle all the time?

Not me.

So I decided to remove the label.

The label came off in one piece which made me happy. However! It left LOTS of industrial strength glue behind. My fingers really stuck to the dispenser when I tried to get the glue off. What a mess!

So I decided I would buy a pretty lotion dispenser to put on that desk. As I researched them on Amazon, many said their pumps were stainless steel. But they still got rusty and after a while had ugly brownish sludge coming out with the lotion or soap in the dispenser.

I didn’t want brown sludge in my lotion! No siree, Bob!

I kept looking on Amazon and found the perfect thing — a set of 2 white dispensers that had plastic pumps. I quickly ordered them.

But you know what white is? Kind of boring. Bland. Blah. I like white lots better than blue but it was somewhat lacking.

It needed a pretty label! Something fun. Perhaps something whimsical. Maybe a picture of a sunrise over a colorful field of wild flowers.

So I decided I would make my own!

I made some junk journal notebooks a while back. During the process, I came across lots of vintage graphics that I really liked. Since I love flowers and gardening, I decided to use pictures from seed catalogs from around 1900. They are in the public domain so they were free to use. Huzzah!

So, let me show you how to make the easiest ever vintage lotion dispenser.

Here are the supplies that you’ll need:

• White lotion dispenser
• Mod Podge
• Sponge brush
• my vintage graphics

(I’ll share the graphics at the end of my post.)

Print the graphics on a laser printer. (If they are printed on an ink jet printer, the ink will smear when you cover the graphic with Mod Podge.)

Cut out the graphics.

Spread Mod Podge on one side of the dispenser.

Place a graphic over the Mod Podge and press it down making sure there aren’t any bubbles under it.

Continue adding graphics to the other sides of the container.

Now spread Mod Podge on top of all of the graphics.

And I’m done! That was SUPER easy! It took me 15 minutes. And that included washing out my sponge brush!

And isn’t this MUCH prettier than a blue bottle with a medicinal label?

I think so!

Now every time that I walk by the desk and see my cute lotion dispenser, I feel joy. And boy howdy. We all need joy during this crazy time with COVID-19!

Here are the graphics of the seed catalogs that I used. Click on the image to get the full sized image. Then right click on it and save.

When I was making the junk journal notebooks (that I mentioned earlier), I gathered lots of free images and ones in the public domain. I liked them so much that I created the following graphics for you to use on your lotion dispenser if you aren’t interested in the pictures from the seed catalogs. You are free to use them for your personal use.

I hope you like them as much as I do!

Again. Click on the image to get the full sized image. Then right click on it and save.