How-to: Poured Wax Candles in Repurposed Glass Containers

Poured candles are even simpler to make than hand-dipped candles or rolled candles–all they require are wicking, melted wax, and a heat-resistant repurposed container.

You can also have just as much variety with your homemade poured candles as you can with fancy, store-bought container candles, since you can vary the shape of your jar, change the color of your wax, and even add essential oils for a healthy scent.

To make your own poured wax candle, you’ll need the following:

repurposed glass container: This should be a container that you’re confident is heat-resistant, and it should be in perfect condition, with absolutely no chips or cracks. I usually upcycle food storage jars, such as Mason jars, small pesto or tapenade jars, or other glass food storage containers that can withstand high temperatures.eco-friendly natural wax: Choose beeswax, which is the wax that I’m using for this project, or a vegan beeswax alternative. Do not use paraffin or similar petroleum-derived waxes.natural fabric wicking: Depending on the wax that you use, cotton and hemp wicking can both be both good options. Measure the wicking so that it will just touch the bottom of the glass, then wrap the excess around a pencil.

1. Prime the wicking. Just as you do when making hand-dipped candles, prime the wicking by dipping it melted wax, allowing it to cool, and then straightening it with your fingers. This will make the wicking easier to work with, since now it will be stiff but malleable.

2. Measure out the wicking for one candle. Now that the wick is stiff, it’s easy to measure it out so that one end will just touch the bottom of your glass container. Wrap the other end around a pencil that’s balanced across the rim of your container. I often don’t cut the wicking at all at this point–if you wait to cut the wicking until you’re finished with the candle, then you’ll have zero wasted wick.

When the wick is measured and set up, remove it from the glass container and set it aside.

Pour in a thin layer of melted wax, then re-insert the wick and let harden.

3. Pour a thin layer of melted wax into the container. If you poured the entire container full, you’d melt the wax that’s stiffening your wick, and it would float off-center. Instead, pour just a thin layer–a half-inch or so–of melted wax into the bottom of the container.

4. Insert wick. NOW put the wick back into the container, centering it evenly from bottom to top. Let the entire container rest until that bottom layer of wax is completely hardened.

Adding crayon bits to the container, then pouring melted wax on top of them, will color the wax.

5. Pour the candle. When the bottom layer of wax is hardened, so that you’re sure that the wick will stay put, you may pour the rest of your candle. You can simply fill the container with melted wax to about 1/4? from the rim, or:

Add color. On top of the hardened layer of wax, drop a few chunks of soy or beeswax crayon. Pour a new layer of hot melted wax to cover the crayon, and watch as the crayon melts and dyes that layer. Let harden and repeat.
Add scent. Add several drops of your favorite essential oils, just before or as you’re pouring the wax. Add more than you think you want, since some of the scent will burn off as it’s put into contact with the hot wax. Let harden.

A candle made this way will last for a LONG time, and when it’s finally burned out, fill it back up for a whole new candle!

View the original article here

10 Repurposed Accessory Storage Ideas

I love accessories (jewelry, hair pins, headbands, etc.) and I have a lot of great pieces, but I don’t like my accessory storage: a cloth bag. Earrings get lost, necklaces get tangled, the headbands are always in the way, and I forget what pieces I have in the first place. What about you? Have you made our DIY Crochet Lace Necklace, our Vegan Jewelry, or our 5 Minute Headband and now you just need something to display your creations? Well, this week I decided it would be a great time to find some solutions for all of our beautiful jewelry. The following are 10 incredible projects that were created to showcase and organize our jewelry collections and are made with repurposed items!

As you all know from my Chocolate Heart Box Wall Art post, I love the idea of repurposing chocolate boxes. If you still have chocolate boxes from Valentine’s Day, make your own ring holder! The chocolate box will look adorable on your dresser or it can fit perfectly in a drawer.

The website this is linked to is in another language, but this idea is just too cute not to feature! I like the rustic feel of the box with the bottles inside too. You could even place your bottles on your dresser or nightstand instead of hanging them up on the wall.

Next>> More Repurposed Accessory Storage Ideas

[Image credit: Overflowing Jewelry Box Photo via Shutterstock]

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

View the original article here

How-to: Make a Repurposed Table Runner

Have you ever started a project, and it just gets gigantic by the end? A few weeks ago, we decided to rearrange the furniture in our living room, replacing a giant, 3-piece entertainment center with a smaller situation that wouldn’t look so looming in there. When we took the old one apart, it turned out that each piece on its own was super awesome! The base is now a window seat in my office, the top piece makes a perfect long shoe rack for the hallway, and the middle piece was just right for a kitchen sideboard. So, instead of rearranging the living room, we sort of rearranged the entire house!

The only trouble with this sideboard is that there were some visible screws at the top. Since this thing wasn’t designed to be a sideboard, there was no reason to cover them up. Now that it’s in the kitchen, though, I wanted to hide those ugly screws. A table runner to the rescue!

Of course, I could have hit up the big box store for a table runner, but where’s the fun in that? Plus, those store-bought situations tend to involve either conventional cotton or some type of polyester, and they’re made in far-off factories. Who knows what the labor practices are there, right? Instead, I hit my stash and whipped up this reclaimed table runner that’s exactly the right size for my new sideboard. Here’s how you can make a table runner of your own!

Materials

Fabric. I used a burlap coffee sack and a bed sheet from the thrift store. The size you cut will depend on the size you need, so you’ll need to raid your stash accordingly. I’ll get into sorting out measurements below!Measuring tape.Sewing machine, pins, thread

Directions

1. Get your measurements. I needed a finished runner that was about 13? wide by 80? long. Since I didn’t have any fabric that was those sizes, I went with 2 panels of burlap on the back and 2 panels of bedsheet fabric on the front. I cut each panel to 13.5? X 41?. See the math there? Add .5? to the width for your seam allowance, and for each panel, add 1? for seam allowance. Since mine was 80? long, each panel needed to be 80?÷2+1?, which is 41?.

2. Cut your fabric. Cut out your panels and iron them.

3. Pin your panels. Take the two pieces of fabric that are going to be the top, and pin the 13.5?  sides right sides together on one side. Sew that side together, so now you have one long piece, instead of two shorter panels. Do the same with the fabric you’re using for your backing. Iron everything again.

4. Pin your runner. Lay your back panel, right side up. Now, take your front panel and lay it right side down on top of it. Pin everything in place.

5. Time to sew! Stitch all the way around the edges of your runner leaving a 1/4? inseam. Make sure you also leave yourself a 3? gap, so that you can turn your runner right side out again.

6. Turn and finish your runner. Use that gap I just mentioned to turn your project right side out. Grab that iron again, and press the whole thing, so it’s laying flat. You’ll want to tuck in the unfinished edges of the gap that you left, so it looks all finished and lined up with the rest of the runner’s edge. Now, run it through the machine again to top stitch around the whole edge. This will help things stay flat and close that 3? gap that you left.

7. Optional quilty fun! If you want to make things extra fun, grab that runner one more time, and run it through the machine to quilt it. You can do standard straight lines, if you want, or be like me and do fun, random, wavy lines up and down your whole runner.

8. Iron again. I know, you’re sick of ironing, but do it one last time to set your stitches and give your runner a nice, professional look.

That’s it! Have you guys made a table runner or other linens before? I’d love to hear what you’re sewing in the comments!

View the original article here