Cheap, Easy Candle DIY Project & Christmas Wrap-Up

Guys, I am bushed.  I’m trying to finish up handmade gifts for my entire family and I’ve got a huge project to tie up at work before I head over the river and through the woods for Christmas.  Although my camera is working again I’m gonna have to pass on doing the holiday video tour of the house – you’ve seen the projects, from parts one, two, three, and four of the Christmas Tree Disaster of 2010, to the cute Yarn Trees vignette to my new entryway bookshelf and my temporary tree branch stocking holder.

There’s a few more odds and ends to share real quickly, like the way I displayed our Christmas cards around the stocking branch:

And the Christmas pillow shams I whipped up from the same Michael Miller holiday fabric as the stockings.  (Yes that’s a white blanket tucked over our sofa cushions.  It’s kind of tacky and collegiate, but until I recover the sofa I’ve got to protect it from myself and my hot cocoa.  I’m klutzy.)

And these holiday towels are jazzing up my stove – they’re from Crate and Barrel.  I love holiday dishtowels, because they’re one bit of holiday decor that’s totally functional, and takes little space to store.

There’s one more quick Christmas DIY I did for my kitchen island, and I’m going to share that and then sign off for about a week of vacation from technology.

Have you seen the glittered sparkly Christmas candles that were all the rage this year? I did, and though I was loving glitter I didn’t want to shell out any dough for them.  Instead, I rifled through my candle drawer and found two unused white pillar candles. Here’s how I transformed those plain old candles into a glittering glowing holiday candle scene:

1. Lay down waxed paper on your work surface.
2. Using an old paintbrush, apply a thin coat of Modpodge to your candle.
3. Sprinkle glitter over candle, liberally.
4. Roll candle back and forth on wax paper, applying slight pressure to ensure glitter adheres well.
5. Repeat process until all of the outside of the candle is coated.

Total cost?  $1.00 for glitter.  Take that, $10-a-piece glitter candles!!

It’s that easy.  Aside from the glittery mess I made on the wax paper, it was easy as pie!

For bonus points, nestle them in some fake snow, and add a sprig or two of pine branch.

Well, that’s it for me, time for a computer vacation.  I’ll have one more post tomorrow (already written) to share my January projects.   I’ll be checking my email once a day to keep tabs on my Etsy shop, but for at least a week – maybe until Jan. 1 – that’s it.  But when I come back, oh boy, you’d better watch out.  And not because Santa Clause is coming to town, but because next week I’m on vacation, and I’ve got a long list of projects that I can’t wait to tackle.