Candle Holders Made from an Antique Beam

I hope everyone has had time to recover from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. I know for one am ready to get back into a routine. And I think even the kids are ready to be back in school since Con-Man has been asking me every morning if it was school day. Maybe he's just tired of seeing me all day everyday. :)

One of the ways I'm getting back in the swing of things is finishing a few projects that I've had hanging over my head. The first up is this old beam:

I found it being thrown out during heavy trash pick up a few weeks ago. I thought even though it was in rough shape I could still make something out of it. 

First up was chopping it up into manageable pieces with the circular saw:

After some prep work- mainly sanding and smoothing out, it was time to paint. I've had this Modern Masters Bronze paint and Patina that I have been dying to use for ages! It's paint with real copper and zinc bits in it that react to the Blue Patina and give it an aged look.

My first attempt was not so impressive. One coat of paint covered very well so I went a head and sprayed the Patina on with lackluster results. 

DIY Candles Holder out of Chair Legs

Hello All! Today I have a fun DIY for you that costs next to nothing to make. I found an old chair in the garbage (no picture :/) and picked it up for my friend who is a photographer. She had been looking for a chair that she could saw the legs off of, paint a fun color and use as a prop in her photos like so:

Source: Mia Bella Photography (check out her site she is awesome!)

Since I cut the legs off the chair for her I was left with a bunch of spindles. 

Super Easy Tea light Holder

One of the things that I love about our house is that it is a gift that keeps on giving. Our dog, Gracie, loves to run underneath the house and bring me presents. It's usually just an old beer can or two that was left behind by construction workers when they built the home, but this time she actually brought me something useful!

She brought me this awesome chunk of wood! Most people might dismiss this as trash but I like it, it's all weathered and distressed and cool looking. (I have this problem where I can't throw things away- it drives my husband nuts.) Anyway- I knew I could make something out of it but what? 

Hmmm... a tea light holder? Yes!

This was super easy to make and only took about 30 minutes from start to finish and I had all the materials to make it already on hand. If you want to make one of these yourself all you need is:

A piece of wood (If you aren't fortunate to have a dog who fetches you wood your local home improvement store can cut wood for you to your desired length, usually for free!)

1 1/2" Drill bit 

Power drill

Sander & Sandpaper

Stain or paint

Tea Lights

First I sanded my wood to smooth it out and get rid of uneven edges.

Then take your drill bit,

And use your tea light as a guide to measure the depth to which you will cut, then tape it off. This way you will not drill to deep into the wood.

Next use a pencil to mark the spots you will drill. SInce I was only drilling 2 holes I just eyeballed it. If your using a longer piece of wood and drilling several holes, measuring might be the way to go!

After I drilled my holes I sanded a little more around the newly drilled holes. Then I used some Minwax stain I had on hand and finished it up. Remember to wipe off any extra stain before it dries for an even finish. This allows the wood grain to show through. 

Then light it up!

For such and quick easy (And free!) project I'm happy with it. Something like this would make a great gift, and to change things up a bit you could use colored tea lights for different seasons, what do you think? 

Linking here!

Wine Bottle Citronella Candle

I had been collecting wine bottles and bugging my friends and neighbors to save them for me so I could try out my previous wine bottle project. Well now I have a ton of wine bottles and not all of them are wine glass worthy. For example these large ones:

are way to big to be a glass. I like to think I'm a Wine Connoisseur not a Wine-O ;) So what to do with them? I had seen a post on Design Sponge I thought I could really use. Our backyard is nice but the Texas mosquitoes are killer. Using a wine bottle as a Tiki Torch is a great idea. I don't have anywhere to hang them like in the tutorial so I thought I would try it out minus the steps that involved actually hanging it on the fence.

I ran over to my favorite store Home Depot (seriously I would love to work here part time if I had the time so I could get discounts on tools and supplies!) and bought the following:

1/2" x 3/8" Copper Coupling
1/2" Copper Cap (Both copper items can be found in the plumbing section and are really cheap!)
Tiki Torch Replacement Wick
Tiki Torch Fuel
Electrical Tape

First I took the Copper Coupling and wrapped the 1/2" end with the electrical tape enough times around so it fit tightly in the bottle opening. This is to keep the coupling from falling in.

Then I slid the wick through the coupling and left a little hanging out the top.

Since my bottle was on the large side the wick didn't reach all the way to the bottom and I didn't want to use that much fuel for one bottle. So I filled the bottom with water first so the oil would sit on top.
Next just fill the wine bottle with the torch fuel. A funnel would be helpful here, if only I had one.

Finally just slide the coupling and wick into place make sure it's tight. Let it sit for a few minutes so it will absorb the fuel. (Can you see where the line of the oil and water meet? Pretty cool.)

Then light and enjoy!

When you are done use the Copper Cap as a lid to help keep the wick dry when your not using it.

So easy! That will teach those pesky mosquitoes to hang around out yard.

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