I'm not sure about you ladies but my husband isn't a crafty person, even when it's laid out for him in detail. Poor thing, it just doesn't come easy to him so I've just stopped putting him in that position. He'll watch me do the craft that I explained to him and thinks that it's so easy and he'll attempt for about 5 minutes and nope. A+ for effort!
This pass weekend I had my niece over and had her and my son make gifts for both their teachers, Teacher Appreciation Week, and for Mother's Day. I've decided to allow my son to make crafts with me, that I've picked out, for me. Is this bad? I'm not sure, I fought back and forth with myself for several weeks before I said I was just going to do it.
I went to the dollar store and picked up some candle holders. We made one for my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, my mom, and myself - so those costed $1 each so $4 total. I then measured the side of the holder to see how big I would need to make my pictures that I was going to print out. 3.5" x 3.5" - printing was a tad hard to do for I was just using the default printing settings. For the most part I printed the pictures out in 3.5" x 5" and some I did bigger, depending on the image on I was using and what I wanted to show on the candle holder.
Since my son and niece are 6-7 years old, I decided to make the template and trace/cut the pictures, while they were sleeping, to ensure that we had pictures that covered the area and was a smooth edge. The way that the holders are, they aren't square, they have a rounded edge so I did end up with a gap in between the pictures, from how I did the template. Not a huge deal, I just hit up the craft box with an awesome solution.
Anyway, enough rambling lets get to the main reason of the post, and of course the cuteness.
What You'll Need
- Candle Holder - size, both length and height, is all in your preference. It could be squared or round.
- 4 pictures - I did mine in black and white. I recommend that or sepia
- You'll want to have them printed and cut to the size of your holder prior to starting. I just laid one side down and traced it, in which I cut that out and placed over my pictures and traced the template to cut the image out. (I used pencil, lightly, so if I didn't like how I positioned it I could erase it and do it over.)
- Mod Podge
- Paint brush - for mod podge
- Washi Tape - optional -- I used this for the rounded edges
- Candles - tealight is what I'm using (not pictured)
- Permanent Marker - I used this to date and put names on the bottom
- Pencil
- Scissors
I washed my candle holders to ensure a clean surface and to get the barcode off the bottom. You can let air dry or be impatient like me and I just wiped it down so I could start working on them with the kiddos.
You'll start off with a layer of mod podge, brushed on the holder, doesn't have to be thick, just enough to cover the surface. I did this one at a time, especially with kids, to avoid it from drying, for they loved brushing the glue on and trying to get all the area, multiple times. Upon the layer of mod podge I would put the image on top of glue and run over it, making sure to get out all the air bubbles.I did place the pictures on for the kids, just to make sure that the picture took up the side, but only halfway down -- They were reasonable for getting the air bubbles out.
Once the picture is on, you'll place a later of the mod podge on top of the picture. The kids were so concerned that it would ruin the picture and you wouldn't see it because the glue is white. I promise, it dries clear and you'll still see the images just fine! You don't want it thick, just enough to cover the image, all of the image, ESPECIALLY the edges, all of them.
Were we had some corners exposed, as you can see, so we used washi tape to cover the edges. Without the tape, the candle looked pretty cool shinning through the corners -- The kiddos insisted it needed some color since I picked boring black and white!
This one is with the washi tape
This one is without. Not a huge difference for the washi tape is transparent like, it just gives an added depth.
It's just a great way to display pictures but to also place candles in. Of course you can use whatever size candles you want to use, that will fit, the kids insisted on the tealight ones since they had "prettier smells". I can't wait to give these gifts. I think they'll truly enjoy the art pieces.
