Handmade Holiday: Candle Sets

What? The holidays are over, you say? Okay, this may be true, but not only could I not post any of the things I made before Christmas lest one of the gift receivers see them, but I wouldn't have had time had I wanted to! So, I post them now, so they can at least be a reference for next year. And I tell you this, because this will not be the last post. :)

I made a number of little holiday candle sets for parents and siblings. I bought a great big package of clear glass votives at the craft store, and glass paint in red, green and gold.

After the glass paint dried, the kids helped me cover the outsides with Mod Podge...

...and roll them in Epsom salt. Ehem, why, yes, that is a leftover Halloween paper plate I'm using.

I found these little plastic snowflake ornaments in one of the craft boxes I was given, and mutilated them with my not-sewing-scissors. (Yes, they are labeled, I did it for the sake of my confused husband.) I touched up the cut edges with a silver paint pen, because the plastic turned out to be very dark and obvious.

I wrapped metallic silver thread around the candle where I wanted the snowflake segments to hang, and tied it off at the appropriate length. That done, I removed the circle of thread and hot glued the backs of the snowflake segments on. The easiest way I found to get them evenly spaced was to glue one over the knot first, then let it hang and glue the one opposite. Turn sideways, and repeat.

Once they were all glued on, I eased them back onto the candle. The salt holds them in place quite well. (The snowflakes in the following picture are not tied in a circle. That is because it is a picture I took before I got my system worked out. It is much easier to start and finished with them tied.)

For the gold candles, I cut cinnamon sticks in half and tied them together in pairs with raffia.

Then, with the knot to the inside, I wrapped the raffia around the candle and back again, tying it over the cinnamon sticks. You must keep both knots as tight as possible for them not to slip out. I tied a gold ribbon in a bow around the red candles.

All done! The green candles were the most time consuming, but they were not too bad once I had things worked out. I think they came out pretty cute, if I am saying so myself. Kaia wanted to bring our set up for her bath that evening. How could I say no? When it was gift giving time, she was oh-so-proud to tell everyone that she helped make them, as paint assistant, salt roller, and knot holder.