DIY How-To! Wedding Decor Up-cycled Votives

List of Materials:

Votive Candle Holders and Votive Candles www.cudge.net

Twigs

26 Gage Crafting Wire www.michaels.com

Vintage Book Pages

Lace Scrapbooking Trim www.michaels.com

Fabric Scrapbooking Leaves www.michaels.com

Leftover Metal Outdoor Lanterns

Spray Paint

Glue Gun with Glue Sticks

Strong Craft Glue

Pen

Instructions:

This would be a fun craft to do with your bridesmaids, after you get all of the materials plan a girl’s night in and have everyone help with the decorations. Depending on how many votive candle holders you need you can choose to but them at your local department store or craft store, or if you want to get a good price on bulk you can purchase them at www.cudge.net $35.88 for a set of 72 holders with candles.

For the other items:

Start by collecting some twigs in your backyard.

Go to your local used bookstore and find an old book or poems.

Look in your shed for those metal outdoor lanterns you no longer use.

Last stop head over to Michael's Craft Store or you local craft store and pick up the remaining items, crafting wire (choose whatever colour you like, in this craft brown was used), lace scrapbooking trim (or other trim that matches with your wedding décor), fabric scrapbooking leaves, and your choice of spray paint.

If you don’t already have a glue gun and glue at home you can also pick this up at the craft store.

The following are specific directions for each individual decorated holder:

Twig Holder

Start by trimming the twigs you have collected to the same height as the candle holder. Depending on the size of twig you have you may get about 5 pieces off of each. Once you have them all trimmed lay them out on the table so you can see the variation in thickness, colour, texture, and shape. Plug in your glue gun and when it is ready to go start gluing on the twigs around the outside of the candle holder. Place the twigs as close beside each other as you can get them. Because of the different shapes it will create small cracks where the light will shine through.

Once all of the twigs are glued on set aside and let them cool. Take your 26 gage crafting wire and cut it long enough that it would wrap around the candle holder twice. Cut three more pieces of wire the same length. Take two pieces of wire and twist them together to double the thickness and give it a twisted effect. Repeat this step for the other two pieces of wire you cut.

Take the two pieces of twisted wire and wrap one around the top of the candle holder and one around the bottom. Once tightly wrapped around twist the wire three times together to hold it in place. Take the left over ends and wrap them around a pen to give it a curled effect, do this to all four left over ends.

Place the candle inside and light it. Repeat the steps to make as many of these candles as you would like.

Lace & Leaves Holder

Plug in your glue gun and while waiting for it to get hot, take your lace scrapbooking trim and wrap it around the centre of the candle holder and trim it to size.  Get your fabric scrapbooking leaves ready. Take the cut piece of trim and glue the two ends at the spot where they join. Take your fabric leaves and place a small bead of glue on them and layer them over top of the seam where the trim came together to cover it up. Let the glue cool and Voila!

Place the candle inside and light it. Repeat the steps to make as many of these candles as you would like.

Vintage Book Page Holder

Take your vintage book and tear out (don’t cut with scissors it takes away from the vintage look) the pages of poems you like the best.  Wrap the page around the candle holder to get an idea or how long you need, tear the page a half an inch longer than what you need to cover it (this will give you extra room to glue and overlap the paper). Then tear the top so it will be a half an inch above the candle holder. After the page is fit to size, run a bead of glue along the edge of the paper. Wrap the paper around the holder and glue the two ends together using the half an inch overlap of paper. Hold this together with your fingers until it dries enough that the paper will not pull apart.

Place the candle inside and light it. Repeat the steps to make as many of these candles as you would like.

Recycled Lantern Holder

If you have old outdoor lanterns strung on lights hanging around where they no longer work or some are damaged this is a perfect way to re-use them. Take the lantern off of the string of lights, you may have to cut the wires that attach them all lanterns are different. Clean them off with some warm water and dish soap and set them to dry. Once they are dry take them outside and spray paint them following the directions on the can. Once dry place the lantern cover over top of the candle holder and as simple as that you have up-cycled the lanterns and candle holder.

Place the candle inside and light it. Repeat the steps to make as many of these candles as you would like.

The cost of this project varies depending on how many candles you will have at your wedding but all and all it is pretty inexpensive as a DIY compared to buying pre-made designer candles!