A Natural Look For The Holidays

 I love a natural look for the Holidays - fragrant pine branches, antlers, silver ornaments, white flowers and of course white candles, lots of white candles. This year, I made scented candles out of wine bottles. A fun project and not too expensive, see the how-to instructions below.

 Such a lovely warm glow....

I searched the internet, watching videos about how to safely cut bottles, and  settled on Ephrem's Original Bottle Cutter Kit available on Amazon.com.

 

Lots of wine bottles collected waiting to be put to good use.....

I found wicks at Michael's Art Supply Store using double-sided pressure sensitive tape to secure them to the inside of the bottle.

Soy wax has a nice creamy natural look, so I decided to go with it and found a 10 pound bag on the internet. Shipping costs were more than the price of the wax (!), but the total price was still less than what I would have paid locally. 

Removing the labels proved to be somewhat difficult - soaking in hot water really did nothing. So, using a straight-edged razor, I carefully shaved off the label. Then I used Goo-Gone to remove the glue leaving a perfectly clean bottle.

 

Cut and prepared bottle bottoms with wicks waiting to be filled with soy wax. 

 

Make sure to use a double boiler for melting the wax, and watch it carefully to avoid fires. 

Also, be sure to center the wick tops while they harden, so that you avoid what happened here! I will just put the glass container back in hot water to melt the wax and recenter the wick.

And violà! Pretty candles made with something people usually throw away.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season filled with light, laughter & much love!  

What are you making for your holiday decorations? I'd love to hear about them in the comments box below, thanks!