Candle In the Microwave

It just doesn't have the same ring as "Candle in the Wind" does it? Well, either way, here we are... I'm going to warn you in advance that I don't have a picture of the finished product. Because I left it at my in-laws. Because I am special... We'll see them again at Thanksgiving, so I'll update with a picture and a new addition to my expanding repertoire of awesomeness.

I've had a growing fondness for the tea-lights that I've seen around Pinterest, so I dove right in and decided to try my hand. Without reading the directions, of course... 

Down to business! You will need... 

An awesome something to hold your candle-- I picked this one out for my aunt!

A big bunch of microwaveable wax, dye bricks, and scent if you like-- plus wicks so you can, you know, burn your candle..

First, you'll fill the wax up to the desired level 

I went with about halfway up the seashell to start, but...

After a suggested 60 seconds in the microwave (the container IS microwave safe!), it was still chunky...

And had melted down juuust a tad. 

So I threw in another handful of wax, plus this palm full of dye (which I didn't think would work, but it did!) and kept on microwaving until I got this:

But then I noticed the wick was kind of floating off to the side... I know people have some super fancy ways of stabilizing and centralizing wicks, but as we all know I make a habit of being unprepared for these things, I feel it keeps me sharp. Anyways, I MacGuyvered this little contraption together:

Why yes, my dental floss DOES make the difference!

Until Thanksgiving you'll have to take my word that it turned out alright, just a little bit shorter than I'd hoped. The small amount of dye shavings made me skeptical like woah but it turned out nice and white! I'll probably add a little more wax to see if I can get the level up and then gift it to my Beachy Keen Aunt!

Ana's A

My niece Ana is the girliest tomboy I know-- she's all about running around and finding new things to get in to, but if you ask her to dress herself, chances are she's going to come out in pink and purple! Her birthday was a few weeks ago, and I really wanted to see if I could re-make this "wreath" but in a more kid-friendly way (she's Pre-K) and on a slightly smaller scale since it would have to travel across the Pacific Ocean:

(via)

Here's the final version of mine-- I did forget to put something up there to hang it with, buuuut they'll figure it out. I would suggest using the coke top trick or wrapping the yarn like the inspiration piece. 

It turned out pretty well, I think, for winging it, and a step by step tutorial is below!

Materials: Yarn, wooden frame, wooden letter, embellishments, scissors.
Cost: About $15, which includes the yarn and glue that I'll use again.
Time: Wow. Wrapping things in yarn is really involved-- it probably took me three hours, maybe even four. It was stop and go, so I don't want to include the down time, but it was pretty involved!
Conclusion: Yeah, it was involved, but I'll totally do this again. I didn't have the time to paint the frame like the inspiration piece, but depending on the person it may be just as well to wrap it in yarn-- everyone at work wanted one!
Tips and tricks: I purchased a smaller wooden frame and a smaller letter at Michael's for about $1 each-- you could go with a bigger one like the inspiration piece, but you'll just spend more time on it! (and probably more money unless you have leftover frames lying around!)

Gather all your materials-- I'm not very good at this yet, so that's why the A already has yarn attached to it...

Pink yarn, to be specific

All of my yarn wrapping involved healthy doses of glue-- it dries clear and makes ya look super crafty and talented!

Front of the A fully wrapped

Back of the A fully wrapped

Tail of the A-- it won't look perfect because it's super awkward, but you just have to play around with it to get the right look

And on the tip, we have lots of glue and layered yarn!

To start on the frame? Dot of glue. Totally dot of glue.

First side wrapped-- I thought the detail on the corners added a little flair to it. There was glue involved in this as well...

The dark spots are the brackets that used to hold the frame back in place-- I bent them all the way back using the handle on my scissors to push them all the way down. They stuck out a little, but after they were covered in yarn, they didn't pose a threat by design or by poking.

I left the bottom corner open so that I could add the flowers in...

A in the middle

I decided to get fancy and try to "suspend" the A in the middle-- this took a lot of playing around to get the tension right and the color on color right.

Close up of the wrapping-- you want to know what there's a lot of in this picture? Glue.

Flower one... these are bigger than I thought!

The tie off on the second half of the tension string. I had to run it through the top and then back through to the bottom corner to make sure the letter had enough tension and support.

Back of the frame at the end

I still had another flower, and the good thing about making a present for a little girl is that they love everything over the top!

Final product without the flash-- does a good job of emphasizing the tension strings!