Twine Candle Votive

It seems with Fall quickly approaching I am interested in ANYthing that even remotely resembles Fall or the Thanksgiving season.  Sooo... I have begun crafting with Fall items such as twine, burlap and cranberry/apple scented candles.  My dollar store twine candle votive is the most recent "Fall craft."

I think it has a "rustic" feel that looks great with the other Fall decorations.

You will need to start with gathering your supplies.  Mine included a candle votive, candle holder and some twine along with a hot glue gun.  I started hot glueing the first strand onto the candle holder and wrapped the twine down and around towards the bottom.  There are a couple of things you might find useful to know:

1) I did NOT hot glue the twine the ENTIRE way around the votive.  I used a little hot glue "here and there" and continued wrapping around until I noticed the twine was beginning to slip and could use a little something to hold it in place.

2)  It is important to know that with this particular votive, once you reach the widest point of the votive it begins to narrow and this is where the twine is more likely to slide downward.  You will need to use a little more adhesive (I used a hot glue gun).. in order to make sure the twine doesn't slip and the wrapping is even and continuous.

Then you add your candle and enjoy your craft!  I also happen to think an orange colored candle would be gorgeous for November and maybe even a black one for Halloween!  At any rate,   Happy Crafting!!

Mending The Cracks

I recently bought a really cute pumpkin which looked gorgeous on my mahogany sofa table.... that is until the little 4 year old from next door paid us a visit!  He enjoys playing with my daughter.... and on this particular day my gorgeous Fall pumpkin!

I decided to "mend the crack" and find a way to use the pumpkin as a decoration somewhere in the house.

My broken pumpkin with a crack
and no stem.

I used some adhesive and applied
with a sponge.

In the picture to the left, I used a piece of Fall Burlap Ribbon to hide the obvious crack down the side of the pumpkin.

Instead of trying to glue the stem back on I opted to use the pumpkin as a vase and place some fall flowers inside.  

It's not exactly the pumpkin I purchased, but I suppose it's one way to use a cracked pumpkin as opposed to throwing it away.

Beverly's Burlap Wreath

By far one of the prettiest burlap wreaths I've seen so far this year!  My neighbor is a whiz when it comes to this stuff and the pictures below are of one of the wreaths she made for her front door.

For this project she used:

1.  A medium sized wire wreath frame
2. 2 rolls of burlap
3. pipe cleaners
4. several fall accent pieces

You will need to gather and "bunch" the burlap around the wire frame and use the pipe cleaners to secure it down.  To make a "full" looking wreath you may need to do this twice.  Once you are finished with the burlap use a hot glue gun (or more pipe cleaners) to arrange and secure your accent pieces.

A Cute lil' Fall Flower Vase

Fall is almost here and I find myself looking for easy and inexpensive ways to add a splash of Autumn color wherever I can.  This is how I settled on my fall flower vase craft.

I started with the supplies:
A candle holder from the Dollar Tree
Fall Ribbon
Adhesive - Be sure you choose one that dries clear!!
And finally, a salsa jar.  (I'm notorious for holding on to things that I might could upgrade into something decorative or usable).

1) Start by cleaning your jar and removing the label.  You can soak the jar in warm soapy water or use an oil of some type to remove most of the label.  I actually used some pledge orange oil (after soaking the jar).  This worked really well.  However, since I knew I would be wrapping the jar in ribbon I wasn't too concerned with getting it "perfectly clean."

2) Once the jar is dry measure the amount of ribbon you will need to wrap around the jar.  Cut to your desired length and on the backside of the ribbon and down the very middle, squeeze a line of adhesive from end to end then wrap the ribbon around your jar.


3) The next step is to glue the decorative jar to the candle holder.  All you have to do is line the rim of the candle holder with your adhesive and secure the jar by pressing it firmly down into the adhesive.

In the picture above you can see the adhesive has not yet dried and it leaves a "white ring" that's visible through the ribbon.  This is OK!  You will think your project is ruined but as long as the adhesive dries clear it will be fine.

Once it dries your done!  I did almost turn this into a candle holder but decided to use some left over Autumn decorations and turn into a vase instead.  But I think a pumpkin scented candle or maybe a cranberry candle for a splash of color would be nice too!