Easter candle holder

As is the case with most of the crafts I've tried, I found my inspiration for this Easter project on Pinterest. Shocking, I know! The original can be found here. It should be noted, however,that I made some changes to the DIY provided in the original post. The biggest change is that I bought and decorated my own wooden Easter eggs; the original author says that she bought hers (and that they are plastic! They are so cutely decorated; unfortunately the only plastic eggs I could find looked cheap and kid-like). 

Below, you will find a supply list, step-by-step directions, photos I took during the process, and photos of the final product. I hope you enjoy and give it a try, too!

Supplies:

• Two unfinished wooden circles from the craft supply store (to serve as the top and bottom of the candle holder).
• At least 3 wooden eggs, unfinished.
• 1/4'' diameter wooden dowel, unfinished.
• Acrylic paint in various colors.
• Various size paint brushes, especially small ones for detail work.
• Acrylic seal clear coat (your choice of matte or glossy finish).
• Drill with 1/4'' drill bit.
• Glue gun or wood glue.

Instructions:

1. Begin by choosing a solid color to paint both wooden circles. Paint one side; allow to dry completely. Turn over and paint other side; allow to dry.

2. Drill a 1/4'' hole in the center of each circle, about halfway deep.

3. If you would like, you can paint other colors/designs or put a faux finish on the circles, which will now serve as the base and top of your candle holder. I sponge painted yellow lightly on top of the robin's egg blue that I had chosen as a base color.

4.  Drill a 1/4'' hole through the center of your wooden eggs. NOTE: This was NOT an easy task. I actually delegated the drilling tasks to my husband. :) He started with a smaller drill bit and drilled a smaller sized hole all the way through the egg; then he went back and widened the hole with the 1/4'' drill bit. He did this in order to reduce the chances of the wood splitting- he also drilled slowly and carefully, which I definitely recommend you do as well.

5. Paint your eggs! This was the fun part. Apply a base coat, and allow it to dry completely. Then, get creative and decorate your eggs with as many colors and patterns as you'd like! Again, wait for the eggs to dry completely before moving on to the next step.

6. Put a small drop of glue from your glue gun or wood glue into the hole in your candle holder base.

7. Insert the wooden dowel into this hole in the base.

8. Slide your 3 wooden eggs onto the wooden dowel.

9. Leave about 1/2'' of dowel sticking out of the hole from the top egg; the rest of the dowel can be cut off and discarded.

10. Repeat step 6 with the other wooden circle (serving as the top).

11. Slide on to the top part where the 1/2'' of wooden dowel is sticking out. It should sit fairly flush with the tip of your top egg.

12. Spray with clear coat in a well-ventilated area: once it's dry, choose a candle and a place to display your masterpiece! 

lucky wreath (yes, another wreath!)

Another wreath post, but this one is timely since I'm catching up and actually posting BEFORE the holiday passes!

This is a St. Patrick's Day themed ribbon wreath. The idea of a ribbon wreath was inspired by this blog post and Pinterest find. I really liked the idea of choosing different kinds, colors and patterns of ribbon to convey a theme. I don't know about you, but when I go to the craft store and roam the ribbon aisles, I'm strangely mesmerized at all the choices. Maybe it's this horribly grey winter that make the endless spools of color splash so exciting, lol!

Anyway, my weird affinity for ribbons aside, I decided on a St. Patrick's Day wreath. My husband's favorite color is green, and he's extremely Irish, so I thought this was a nice wreath to display on our front door. Here is the finished wreath - then, keep reading for the DIY! After which you will go and make your own!

Supplies: 

• 12" extruded Styrofoam wreath
• 7 or 8 different kinds of corresponding types of ribbon. I didn't pay attention to how big the spools were, I'm sorry! I was able to make two wreaths with the amount of ribbon you see below.
• TIP: The best kind of ribbon for this project is grosgrain. Wire ribbon is okay, and actually is easy to shape into a loop. I do NOT recommend sheer ribbon; that was very problematic for me. Also, variety is good in terms of how thick your ribbon is, but the more thin ribbon you buy, the more it takes to cover the wreath.
• Dressmaker pins
• Decorative element if desired (mine was a glitter foam cutout that says "Lucky" and a corresponding glitter shamrock. Only $1 at A.C. Moore!)
• Glue gun

Instructions:

Step One: Wrap your wreath with one of your ribbon choices. The thicker the ribbon, the less you waste on this part. I say waste because you will barely be able to see this when the wreath is covered in ribbon. It's better than leaving it white underneath, though, which is definitely visible if you miss any spots. I used a solid green grosgrain ribbon because it was cheap and wrapped easily. Use your hot glue gun to glue the ribbon on at the start and ending of your wrapping it.

 

 Step Two: Cut your lengths of ribbon. I found conflicting posts online regarding how long the strips should be. For my first wreath, I made them 4" long each. For my second one, I did 5.5" each. I think 5" would have been ideal in terms of the ribbon being easier to pin but not too droopy on the wreath. Start by cutting 20 pieces of each type of ribbon you bought. The photo below shows the 4" cut pieces before I started pinning them on.

Step Three: This step is optional. I did not do it for the first wreath. I thought it would be an extra unneeded step. I was wrong. You see, looping the ribbon (especially if it's just 4" long) and pinning it to the wreath can be tricky at times. You get one side pinned and then the loop comes undone. It was maddening at times! So, for the second wreath I decided to glue the ribbon loops shut before I pinned them on. Again, I originally thought this step would be a waste of time, but it saved me frustration and a string of curse words later on! :) All you need is to form a loop with your ribbon and use your glue gun to put a small dot of glue on each corner to keep it closed. It sets quickly. The photo below was taken when I made my second wreath- these are the 5.5" lengths of ribbon, glued into loops before I began pinning. 

Step Four: Place any decorative elements on your wreath in the beginning. You will be working around them with the ribbon loops; you don't want to glue the decoration on top of perfectly nice ribbon loops. It won't be super sturdy and it's a waste of (now flattened) ribbon. Use super glue or a glue gun to adhere your decoration in place.

Step Five: Pin the loops onto your wreath. You need to cover the front, outer circle and inner circle only. The back is left uncovered. Alternate your ribbon evenly. For example, I would pin one of each kind of ribbon, then started over again. This way, there was a fairly equal amount of each ribbon type/pattern on the wreath when finished. I used two pins per loop to keep the ribbon securely in place.

Step Six: Cut a length of ribbon in the same color scheme as your wreath. You will be doubling it over, so make it twice as long as you want your hanger to be. I wanted to use one of the two special St. Patty's Day ribbons I had, so that I could really showcase the theme. I cut it about 12" inches long and folded it over. Then I pinned the open ends to the back of the wreath using 4 dressmaker pins, and I was done!

Below, you will see both versions of the wreath. You can decide for yourself if you like the one with shorter loops (thus more ribbon loops needed), or the one with longer loops (thus less ribbon loops needed). I will say that I like the one with the shorter loops better, BUT I liked that the longer loop ribbon took me about an hour less to complete. Total approximate time for this project is 4 hours.

I went crazy and bought spring colored/themed ribbon, so look for that in upcoming weeks! For now, I'm going to step away from wreaths, though (as promised!)- a couple new posts will be coming over the next 2-3 days, so stay tuned. 

If you make (or have made) a ribbon wreath, please post a link so that we can see it- I love seeing all the different versions that people make! :) 

Christmas Ornament Wreaths: {re}visited

As promised in my first post about Christmas ornament wreaths, here is more information on how to make these festive decorations.

When I made my first wreath, I noticed a couple of things that posed a challenge. First, I added garland/extras to the wreath at the very end. This was a mistake, because by that time the wreath was very full. It wasn't easy to navigate tiny open spaces to hot glue these sprigs and glittery leaves!

Also, I learned that it might have been better to have more than two sizes or Christmas ornaments. As I filled in the wreath, I did have empty spaces where the ornaments I had just wouldn't fit. I used small and even mini ornaments to solve this problem.

Buying the Ornaments

Finally, I did research regarding the best places to get Christmas ornaments for an affordable price. I was lucky because I started this crafting venture in November, which was prime time for ornaments in local big box stores. However, I found that prices varied enough to warrant shopping around, and color choices were minimal at some places. I also found out that whenever possible, it's a good idea to buy a "shatterproof ornament set." This typically consists of 50 or 100 assorted ornaments in a large plastic cylinder. 

The best stores to buy assorted ornament sets are: KMart, Wal-Mart, Home Depot. Most of these sets include ornaments in 2 or 3 different colors, or 2 or 3 shades of the SAME color- and almost always include mostly round ornaments with occasional different shapes thrown in. There are typically assorted sizes  Because it was holiday time, these sets were in the $20 range.

If you are looking for ornaments in large numbers - 25-100 per pack - but you want a single color per pack, the best stores to find these are: Target and Big Lots.  These packages are usually more expensive - for example, a pack of 25 silver at Target was $15. I was lucky enough to find a 50 pack of blue ornaments at Big Lots for just $12, but that was AFTER Christmas. 

A really good website for buying color specific ornaments in all sizes, shapes and finishes is Christmas Central . I found hot pink ornaments there, which are VERY difficult to find in other stores.

Remember, when buying your ornaments:

• They should be shatterproof
• You should get 3-5 different sizes of ornaments
• Don't forget to make sure you have one or two small/"mini" sizes to fill in empty spaces
• For a 14 inch wreath that is very full, you will need a total of approximately 125 ornaments. Adjust this total for a smaller wreath or if you don't want to make it as full.
• I always made sure that I had 50 ornaments that are "medium" sized, or approximately 2.5'' (60mm) around.

Making the Wreath: {Re}vised Version

After that first ornament wreath I made for my mother, I made three more: one for my best friend, one for my sister and one for our family. Once again, here are the supplies and instructions for making an ornament wreath. I did make some revisions from the instructions in my first post, to account for some of the new things I learned as I made more wreaths. 

• A straw wreath (14 inches)
• Shatterproof ornaments. Recommend approx. 125 ornaments, 50 which are "medium" sized, about 25 that are larger, and the rest will be small and mini for fill-ins.
• Glue sticks 
• Glue gun (I "borrowed" my mom's glue gun - my sister pretended she needed it and passed it on to me to use. :))
• Ribbon (the wider the better!) It doesn't matter what kind of ribbon it is, but keep in mind that you use it for the wreath hanger, too, so you will want to color coordinate the ribbon. I can't remember how much of it I needed, I'm sorry! To be safe, you could get a 10 yd. spool and I'm fairly certain that will be long enough.
• Some sort of garland/decoration (glitter spirals, glitter branches/leaves, bead garland)

Here is a very brief run-down of how I made the wreath, followed by progress pictures as I went along.
 

1. Take the plastic off of your straw wreath.

2. Hot glue the start of your ribbon to your wreath, then wrap the wreath (without cutting the ribbon until you're done!) - when done, cut the ribbon and hot glue the end of the ribbon down.

3. Take ribbon and make a "hanger" for the wreath. Hot glue the ribbon in place.

4. Take the little "metal tops" off of your ornaments. 

5. Make sure the holes at the top of the ornaments are facing down when you adhere them to the wreath (not visible). 

6. Hot glue your ornaments to the ribbon-wrapped wreath. Start by gluing your biggest ornaments around the outside of the entire wreath. You will want to glue them directly to the wreath and also put a dab of glue between two ornaments to hold them together.

7. Add garland/decorations as you go. Before you get too many ornaments on, you should glue these on. They can stick out from the sides and you glue the ornaments around them. It's much easier to add these as you go instead of waiting until the end.

8. You will do the outside ring of the wreath, then a layer on top of that...then you will do a third layer toward the inner circle and the inner circle itself. 


Here are photos of the three wreaths I made. If you have any questions about the process, please comment! Otherwise, go ahead and give it a try! I seriously had zero experience, art/crafting skills and just a brief online description of how to do this. You can do it, too! :)

Pink/Silver BFF Wreath:

Purples/Silver Sister Wreath:

Blues/Silver Family Wreath: 

First Craft: Christmas Ornament Wreath (Part 1, Beginner)

November 2012 was my first foray into the "world of crafting." I was inspired by Pinterest and a specific type of wreath I had seen in some of the "big box" stores.

These wreaths featured multi-colored Christmas ornaments. Some were fuller than others: most definitely the handmade ones! The manufactured versions I saw were sparsely decorated with ornaments, and used filler like tinsel and garland. I was shocked that these were selling for retail between $39.99 and $59.99 for what I'd consider a "medium" size. 

Somewhat spontaneously, I decided I was going to try making my own Christmas ornament wreath based on a "DIY" tutorial I had seen via a post on Pinterest.  I had very little concept of how many ornaments I'd need, or how expensive that could be. Thankfully, since it was November, finding the ornaments was easy. Doing the shopping around for the best price was what was most time-consuming, though! Eventually, I found that the following stores had really good deals on packs of shatterproof ornaments: Big Lots, Wal-Mart and Home Depot. You could get 50 to 100 ornaments for around $30. This may sound like a lot of ornaments, but the tutorial told me I would need about 100, so I made sure to buy plenty.

I decided that I was going to make this wreath for my mom. I thought: if it turns out nicely, she will have something pretty to hang at Christmas (I planned to give it to her as an early present). She's impossible to shop for, so I thought she might appreciate something handmade that was NOT a deformed statue of Kristi Yamaguchi! ;) I also figured that if it turned out to be a disaster, she would A) Pretend to like it or B) I could throw it away and never speak of it to anyone. :)

I decided on using red, gold and green ornaments because red is her favorite color, and this seemed like a traditional and "safe" choice for this wreath.

In addition to the ornaments, I needed:

• A straw wreath (14 inches)
• Glue sticks 
• Glue gun (I "borrowed" my mom's glue gun - my sister pretended she needed it and passed it on to me to use. :))
• Ribbon (the wider the better!)
• Some sort of garland/decoration to use in any empty spaces

I found the wreath, glue sticks and garland at A.C. Moore. I did shop around to see what craft store would have the best deal: we have JoAnn's, A.C. Moore, Michael's and Hobby Lobby locally. Honestly, the prices were very similar at each; I was sure to use a coupon at A.C. Moore that took 40% off the price of my wreath! (They're normally $3.99). Note: these stores will all accept competitor coupons. So, look online, in your newspaper or on an app for your smartphone to get coupons for every time you go to a craft store. Seriously, they ALWAYS have coupons floating around, so there should never be a time you go into a craft store and pay full price! (end of money-saving rant:)).

I did find that the ribbon at the craft stores was more expensive than what I could find elsewhere. Wal-Mart can have slightly lower prices on ribbon. Various dollar stores also carry seasonally decorated/colored ribbon - they had autumn themed rolls when I was there that were, unfortunately, the wrong color for what I needed.

I ended up finding a fabulous deal on red sheer wire ribbon at The Christmas Tree Shop. The tutorial said it could be sheer or solid, and the $1.99 price for a huge roll sounded great to me! Unfortunately, I didn't know at the time that I would be doing a crafting blog, or I would have kept better track of exact prices and how much ribbon, etc. I think it was a 10 yard roll and I used about half to wrap the wreath.

Thankfully, I did take photos during my wreath-making process, even though I didn't document every single step. I'll try to be more thorough now what I know people will be reading my instructions (if I ever get anyone to read this blog, that is! :)). Here is a very brief run-down of how I made the wreath, followed by progress pictures as I went along.

1. Take the plastic off of your straw wreath.

2. Hot glue the start of your ribbon to your wreath, then wrap the wreath (without cutting the ribbon until the end!) - when done, cut the ribbon and hot glue the end of the ribbon down.

3. Take ribbon and make a "hanger" for the wreath. Hot glue the ribbon in place.

4. Take the little "metal tops" off of your ornaments. 

5. Make sure the holes at the top of the ornaments are facing down (not visible). Hot glue your ornaments to the ribbon-wrapped wreath.

6. Add garland/decorations - ta da!!!

Now, this is an EXTREMELY simplified version of the process! When I made this wreath, I burned myself twice (I have a scar from one burn, still!). I hot glued the wreath to the table on more than one occasion. 

The entire thing took more than 8 hours to complete.

So I'm definitely acknowledging that it wasn't as straightforward as the process above, but that's the general idea, and I learned some tricks as I went along. I also learned more each time I made another ornament wreath. Yes, I made more - because this one turned out quite nicely, to my surprise. Also, the response when my mom and other people saw it-- wow! I had to make some more for loved ones or they would have disowned me! 

In my next blog, part 2, I will share more of the Christmas ornament wreaths I made (with pics). I'll also share some of the lessons learned as I made more wreaths; lessons that made the process a bit easier but also improved the quality of the finished products. 

Here are the photos from this project: enjoy!

P.S. - I did end up trimming the gold garland down considerably before I gave this to my mom. They looked like cat whiskers. :)))