I just did mine bottles last year free hand,
Kallie, I put them in the tea and let dry before I wrote on them- I also ripped the paper, not cut to giv it a more ragged look
This year Rikki made me two great bottles for the secret reaperer, and printed up labels to make my other bottles match,
The bottles at Michaels are great, but you can make some way cheaper if you keep your eyes open for cool bottles. Thrift stores, garage sales, and of course the grocery store, I bought s certain kind of diced tomatoes, I saw at Big Lots - another good source- just for the jar, that I could use it to cook with was just a bonus! LOL.
I hope to improve on mine this year, as am hoping to do a bigger witch display.