My workshop helper...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Friday!  My nephew is visiting for the next couple of weeks and earlier this week he helped me make some candle holders in the workshop.  Quinton did most of the work on these while I talked him through what he needed to do.  He does a great job!

We also started working on a headboard bench.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him actually looking at the camera.  Next time.  Well, thanks for stopping by.

Candle holders....

Hi Everyone!  Last month I was lucky enough to be asked by Gail @ myrepurposedlife to guest post while she as away for her daughter's wedding.  Thanks again Gail!  So I thought I'd show you that post here.  I did a tutorial on how to make your own wooden candle holder.  I've seen a few of these in stores for anywhere from $15-$50.  Which seems outrageous to me.

The only thing I purchased for this is the 6 pack of flameless tea lights.  I have two chocolate labs that are in the house so real candles can not be used.  I got this pack at Wal-Mart for $2.50 + tax.  Everything else I had.  I am a firm believer in recycling everything I can, including scraps of wood that others might think are not worthy of saving.  Luckily I have room to store my scraps of wood.  And luckily for me, my grandfather saved a lot of old wood that someone else might have burned.

The first thing I did was to lay out the tea lights on a ruler so I could determine how far apart the candles needed to be and how long the piece of wood would need to be.  I determined that I needed a piece that was 17 1/2" long.

So I went out to the wood pile and fould this really cool piece of wood that had been the sides of a feed bunk for cattle.  See the hole in the middle, that's where it was bolted to the base of the bunk.  So I cut it down to size and and marked out on the board where the holes would go, making sure that a hole would line up exactly where this hole was.

Then I went to the drill press and using a spade bit and drilled out the holes.  The tea lights are 3/4" deep, so that's the depth that the holes need to be.

And if you don't have access to a drill press, you can use the spade bit on your drill, it will just take you a bit longer to get the holes drilled.

Then I sanded the block of wood until it was smooth.  I just love the lines that are in this block of wood.

Next, I made sure that my tea lights fit the holes.  Since my sander couldn't get into the holes to sand that smooth, I used a sanding bit for my Dremel but you can use sandpaper.  You just want to make sure it's smooth so the candles will go in and out easily.  And if you aren't using flameless candles, you'll want it smooth so the melted wax will come out easily.

I decided to make another one out of a scrap 2x4 since most of you probably don't have access to a really old chunk of wood. 

I added feet to the 2x4 holder by glueing furniture plugs to the bottom.  If you don't know what a furniture plug is, it's used to cover a screw in a table top.  You can buy them for .99 at Hobby Lobby.  I have a variety of sizes on hand because I make a lot of furniture and I like to hide the screws.

I painted the block of wood black because it went better with my dining room decor and I painted the 2x4 block white and then sanded it and put an antique glaze on it (which is hard to see in this photo).  This is super easy to make and can be made to go with any decor.  I like that it can be as long or as short as you need.  I can see a really long one going down the center of a large dining table with sprigs of flowers or pip berries (especially if you use the flameless candles).  You can really make this your own.  I've also painted lettering on the side on some single candle ones that said Live, Love, Laugh, each word on their own block, or an initial for the newly married couple.  The ideas are endless.  I hope this has inspired you to run out and use those scraps of wood to make your own candle holders.  Thanks for stopping by.

Candle holders...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Wednesday.  I thought I'd share with you some of the candle holders I make.  They are simple and easy.  I make them to hold 3, 5, and 7 candles and in almost any color.  I don't have any step by step pictures to share, but it's so easy I don't think you'll need them.  I got the idea because my mom had gotten two wooden candle holders with turned wooden holders to go on top of the pony walls that separate her dining room from her living room.  They look really nice but they were kind of expensive.  And of course I had to see if I could come up with an inexpensive alternative.  And this is what I made.

Basically it's a 1x4" board with canning jar lids attached with construction glue.  I use construction glue because I want a permanent hold, but I'm sure you could use Gorilla Glue, I just used what I had on hand.  Just don't use a glue gun on it because it will not keep the hold.

The lids have been painted and then speckled with black paint.  I painted the boards a solid color but you could speckle those as well.  I have sold a lot of these and the most popular color was black. 

Just make sure that you clamp the lid down to the board until it dries.  I like to let them sit over night before releasing the clamp. And if you don't have a clamp you could just weigh it down with something really heavy, just make sure it doesn't make the lid move on you.  I leave the board plain because I like that simple look but you could always router the edge.  I have tried both ways but like the plain edge better because it doesn't compete with the ridges on the lid. Well, thanks for stopping by.