Two Crafty Girls: Candle holders

Since Thanksgiving was on the way I thought I would try and get in the autumnal spirit and decorate my home. I love leaves; I love them when they are that bright yellow-green in the spring, I love them when they are that vibrate green in the summer, and I love them the most when they are that rich gold-red-green mix in the fall.

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it seemed like a simple way to dress up some basic candle holders...

http://diyreal.com/diy-stained-glass-candle-holders/

Seemed to me that if I could stick coloured tissue paper on glass candle holders, I could likely stick gorgeous fallen leaves on glass candle holders. Right?

I have about 60 candle holders leftover from my wedding in a dusty box at the farm; they would be perfect for this project! They are just simple glass candle holders from IKEA and they fit a large tea light, but any candle would work. (Sorry Dave, I mean OUR wedding).

The leaves were free for the gathering! I got a mix of greens, reds, and yellows. Turned out better to use "fresh" leaves that were still attached to the tree, as opposed to the fallen ones, more pliable and less likely to break down into a pile of dust.

I got things set up on the table in the porch, Mom was sewing a quilt top and Miss R was napping, so I thought that I could decoupage my afternoon away.

First I tried to attach the leaves to the glass with Modge Podge. Disaster! They didn't even stick for a second. I tried to let the Modge Podge dry a bit and become tacky, thinking that then it would work better. Wrong. It worked worse. Now I just had glue covered candle holders, a sticky mess. When they fully dried they looked a bit cloudy and mottled, it was a bit of a milk glass look...cool, but not the look I was going for.

Mom goes digging in her crafting stash to find a solution. She pulls out a can of spray adhesive. Now you have to understand my hesitation in using this stuff...the label was yellowed and peeling, the nozzle appeared to have melted and deformed many years ago, and there was no MSDS attached. Whatever.

I went outside to spray the adhesive on, thinking that would avoid a hazardous chemical spill in the house. It was a good idea I did! That deformed nozzle broke and sprayed glue chunks everywhere. Like, everywhere! I think it must have surprised me at just the right moment because my eyelids were glued open and my forehead was glued wrinkled. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not!

So I came back inside and tried to wash up and regroup. As a semi-experienced crafter, my trusted go-to for sticking things together is the hot glue gun. Yes, that's right; I ended up using a glue gun to adhere the leaves to the glass candle holders. Simple, right? I should have thought of it first! So simple in fact that I got a bit caught up and instead of just making 3 for me and 3 for Mom, I ended up making 21 in total. I just loved the way they look!