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.

Twig Chairs, Hand painted Items

Latest creations... All items are handmade. Twigs for chairs and frames are hand picked, hand cut and hand assembled. Paintings are hand painted. They're my designs and my creations from my imagination.

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?

Building Inventory of Dreams

Rather than spending the day creating faux candy bars out of cardboard to wrap in custom Valentine Day wrappers for samples, I found myself imagining and creating egg shell Valentine votive holders. Before I knew it, the day had passed and it was time to feed, walk the dog, prepare guinea pig salad and let out my boys (ferrets), Ponc and Poncho.

Well, I did manage to print a few custom wrappers out but that was it. I was consumed with the egg shell designs and searching the house for something out of which to make stands for them.

I did finally find a nice thick cardboard tube from a roll of aluminum foil. I measured and marked around the perimeter then using a serrated knife cut them to a decent length. I wrapped some with glittering gold ribbon, some I simply painted with black acrylic and added polka dots. Later I will seal them with Mod Podge (TM) which will also make them shine.

Mod Podge (TM) is what I use to seal the egg shells. After painting the designs with acrylic paint I use the Mod Podge (TM) again to give them a glossy look.

I don't particularly like to spend money on craft supplies unless I absolutely have to. I'm a huge fan of turning the house upside down looking for materials to reuse, recycle. I suggested to my husband, John, I'd like to have some copper wire because I like the looks of it.

Did you know that cables for the TV and stereo contain a core of copper wire? John knew this and because he loves to save money just as much as I gave me this bit of information.

Yesterday, not only did I design and paint egg shells but I striped unused cable wire down to the copper wire core. After measuring and bending the wire into circles, I glued them onto the seed beads around the rim of the shell.

I also used the wire to bend into heart shapes which hang on the rim wire used to somewhat conceal the ragged shell edge. All that remains to do to them is add a wick, melt and pour wax.

Pictures will be added to my portfolio of candy wrappers. You never can tell. Someone just might want to buy one!

Latest Creation

I thought I had an original idea but come to find out - after searching on the Internet for something - my idea wasn't original.

I had taken discarded egg shells and made votive candles out of them. But first I sealed the shells then painted them with acrylic paints. After inserting wicks, melting and pouring the wax into the shells, I let them rest and waited impatiently for the wax to harden.

I was finally able to light them and was happily surprised to see the shell color glow with the acrylic colors. I won't let the fact that the idea wasn't original stop me from marketing them (along with the personalized custom candy bar wrappers I have created) to gift shops. If they will allow me, I will leave samples for their customers as well as my business cards. Retailers love freebies to give out so there shouldn't be any problems in placing the samples.


Now whether or not consumers will find the egg shell votives and candy wrappers worthy of purchase is the question yet to be answered. But my marketing experience tells me the more I place the better chance of someone buying one or the other or both. After all, it's all about the numbers. The more people or businesses you introduce yourself to the better of success.

With that, I need to finish up all my votive samples I have created for Valentines Day along with my portfolio of candy bar wrappers.