Candle Recycling!

I had two candles in my room in big glass jars that I could no longer get my hand in to light, rather than throw them out I decided to make new ones.I didnt want to smash the jars as they have posh lids and are good quality so I think I can use for something else.


First I got new containers for the candle wax to be poured into, I chose a wide rimmed tumbler I had and a cute flower pot I got for 99p in a charity shop. Then I put the jars into a pans, filled the pans and heated on an electric hob.

Once the wax had melted I simply used a fork to pull out the wicks and attached them to the bottom of the new containers, held the wicks upright with the same forks and poured in the melted wax, leaving to harden.

A few small tips I found online/was given but didn't generally follow (tut tut): 

•  Trim the burnt wicks before melting to stop the wax going a horrible colour (which I could reach to do but it didn't happen to my wax, luckily).
• Gently heat the new containers to prevent cracking (Good quality containers and those built for heat resistance shouldn't crack though)
• DO NOT MICROWAVE WAX (this one I definitely followed)
• Make sure the pots are glazed if ceramic or else will soak up the wax and become flammable!!

I can't believe how easy it was. I just have to trim the wicks before I light them.

Next time Tea cup and saucer candles!

Decoupage Bracelets

So on my journey to living homemade I decided to start out with something that looked pretty simple; decoupage. Inspired by One Pearl Button I decided to decoupage some dull wooden bracelets I got in a sale a couple of years ago to gain some confidence with the craft.

An experienced decoupager would tell you to start out with nice flat surface to work on such as a box or frame but being me I didn't research THAT part properly and made it difficult with the bracelets...All the in depth know how of how to go about this craft I gained from the link above, though typically I just took it face value with some of my own research into materials.

I used:-

• Wallpaper samples ripped into 2/3cm wide and 8cm long (collected by visiting a home store and choosing what I liked without being too cheeky with the amount) 
• Wooden bracelets(I already had but got them on sale in a cheap shop)
• PVA glue (With a little water to make it shine and fix the overlapping edges)
• Clear nail varnish to seal

Results:

My mistakes; I'm not me without my constant array of errors and misunderstandings.

Some wallpaper nowadays is WAY to thick to use on such a small object but would work amazingly on larger items like tables, boxes or frames. I also didn't have a brush to hand nor money to buy one so I used my hands and it all got rather messy!

Borrowing suggestions and ideas some other cute things to decoupage with are wrapping paper, tissue paper, pictures from old books, old atlases, newspapers, magazines or even print out songs, poems or quotes. It also says seal with proper varnish.

Happy Decoupaging!