Homemade Thanksgiving/Autumn Candle Bouquet

I was on a mission to make our Thanksgiving table more decorative this year. True to form, I began searching the house for materials and ideas when I spied the orange candles I made sitting in glass holders. It didn't take long for me to decide I wanted to make something a bit more attractive for them to set in.

My husband had set aside vegetable cans he had emptied the contents from and rinsed. Grabbing them, I set to work.

First, I washed and dried them. Next, I wiped the exterior with alcohol to remove any sort of film then I set about painting them with acrylic paint. After choosing the colors, I painted the background. Because there isn't one spot in our house that is formal, I didn't mind if the silver of the can showed through a littler here and there. And to tell the truth, you'd have to use several layers of paint to entirely cover the metal.

After the paint dried, I sprayed them with flat finish lacquer.

I didn't have any artificial flowers on hand and I knew the hobby stores were having great sales on their autumn flora so off I went to find a great deal on flowers. I found a small bouquet of orange and red flowers for 60% off which was perfect and matched the cans I painted.

Next, at a dollar store, I found a roll of moss for - you guessed it - a buck. When I got home, I rummaged through the garage and found the Styrofoam I had removed and saved from some teddy bear candy bouquets my husband was unable to sell.

The blocks were not so large that I couldn't simply shove them into the cans but I knew if they were too large I could take a serrated knife and saw off the edges.

After the Styrofoam blocks were in place, I glued the moss on using hot glue; removed some fabric flower heads and sprays from their plastic stems then hot glued them into place.

The candles sticks wouldn't set on top of the Styrofoam so with a small knife I cut out a shallow holes, put some plumbers putty on the bottom of the candle sticks then pushed them into place.

Now all I have to do is make napkins and place mats for our Thanksgiving table.

Imperfect Dreams - Lilly illustration by Deborah A. Miller

I told you in an earlier post I enjoy being artistic. My life centers around thinking up creative things to do.

Last week, I took an old cork bulletin board, covered it with left over fabric we used to redo kitchen chairs then hung it behind our kitchen stove. It serves as a back-splash but it also adds color to our otherwise white walls. I took more of the same material and made a small valance for a kitchen window which ties into the back-splash.

I found an outdated calendar with pictures of flowers. I traced these flowers (above) onto the appropriate paper then painted them with acrylic paints. I will use this for a candy wrap or perhaps a candle applique.

In between creating paper face-plate covers, painting pictures, cleaning and caring for animals last week, I also began to experiment in making drink looking candles. They aren't perfect, the top of the chocolate drink candle is concave but who cares? I uploaded the picture to CraigsList and stated in the description that I am not a professional candle maker; I do it for fun. If someone purchases one, two, three or more, that bonus will be added to the fun I had creating them.

In the mean time, I will continue to create and building an inventory of everything I enjoy doing. I foresee a garage sale this summer in which much of the inventory will be priced and hopefully sold.

After all, the more people you show your stuff to the better chance you have of selling. Right?