Friday Faves...How to make your own Beeswax Jar Candles with Essential Oils

Our unofficially adopted granddaughter, (she was our middle grandson's nanny and is our two oldest grands' bosom friend), is home from college for holiday break. This week she came over to spend the afternoon with me. I've been wanting to try making beeswax jar candles, so we decided it would be a fun project to tackle together! 

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

1 lb beeswax pastilles

1/2 cup coconut oil

essential oil of choice

lead free cotton candle wicks

(I got mine at JoAnn's Fabric store.

 Check what size wick you will need based on the diameter of the jar)

three 8oz jars

1 quart jar

bamboo skewers

Pour the beeswax pastilles into the clean gas quart jar and microwave until completely melted.

(A remaining handful of pastilles would not fit into the jar, but as the wax began to melt after a couple of minutes in the microwave, I was able to pour the remaining pastilles in.)

Every few minutes, being careful to use potholders, use a wooden skewer to stir the melted wax.

Continue to microwave until the wax is completely melted.

Meanwhile, put a small dot of hot glue on the metal disk at the bottom of the wick and place it in the center of the inside of the jar.

Place a wooden skewer across the top of the empty jar and tie the wick to the skewer.

When the wax is melted, carefully remove it from the microwave and stir in the coconut oil.

Add and stir in 30 or so drops of your favorite essential oil or oil blend.

Carefully pour hot wax into the jars being careful to keep the wicks centered.

This made two 8oz candles but did not completely fill up the third candle jar.

Once the candles are completely cooled and hardened, trim the wick to about 1/2 inch and enjoy!

Have a blessed and happy weekend everyone!

        

             

Friday Faves...A Copper-y Christmas Mantel

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I love ALL THINGS CHRISTMAS!

I love the Reason for the Season-the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord.

I love gathering and celebrating with family and friends.

I love baking my favorite cinnamon-cranberry bread and Christmas cookies.

I love shopping for gifts for my loved ones.

I love, love, love decorating my home for Christmas.

This year I started with my mantel, sat back and looked at it for a few days, 

then tweaked a few things until I was happy with the result.

My idea started with some copper candlesticks from World Market.

Then, with the help of two different tones of copper paint, (one spray paint and one craft paint),

I refreshed a pair of decades old candle holders, painted some old jingle bells I had,

and spruced up some inexpensive deer purchased at Walmart.

I am pleased with how it turned out and happy to have given some new life

 to some old objects that were tucked away in my decorations stash.

I used this spray paint for a base coat.

When that was dry I brushed on this craft paint, then wiped off the excess with paper towels.

This gave more of a two dimensional look instead of a flat look to the faux copper items.

Well, it's almost Friday, friends!

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and 

a safe and BLESSED weekend!

             

Friday Faves..."My Favorite Cup" watercolor

I have a whole cupboard shelf dedicated to my many favorite cups.  I love having my morning coffee or my afternoon tea in one of my cute cups.  The other day I had an idea to do some little watercolor drawings of some of my favorite cups paired with a cute saying.

These are my watercolor interpretations of three of my favorite cups.  They are not photographs, so I didn't try to make exact detailed replications, but I simply relaxed and drew "close enough" representations of the cups, then painted them with watercolors.

I thought it would be fun to have a little giveaway of one 8x10 unframed "my favorite cup" watercolor painting on high quality watercoloring paper.  The winner can choose to send me a close up photo of their favorite cup and I will attempt to paint it, or they can choose to have me paint a copy of one of my cups.  To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment telling me whether you are a tea or coffee lover.  I will pick a winner from the comments and let you know who wins in next week's Friday Favs post. Be sure to click subscribe by email when you comment so that I can reply back to you!

It's almost Friday, friends!

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and

a safe and BLESSED weekend!

             

Friday Faves...a simple homemade sign

If you've been a reader here for very long, you know the amusing story of the cow in my painting.  Since, in real life, Bonnie the cow lived on a farm in France, I decided to make a sign to hang over her head that says "Fresh Milk" in French.

Because I'm impulsive and tend to dive right in and try a project I have in my mind, you'll have to bear with me as I explain what the sign looked like before I changed it and the steps in how I made it since I didn't photograph the process.

This was a double sided arrow shaped sign that says BEACH.  It is still like that on the opposite side. The wood on the sign is rough, so instead of trying to sand off the word BEACH or to make the wood smooth, I simply painted over it with gray paint. Once that layer of paint was dry I went over it with a light and uneven coat of white paint. When that was dry I used a paint pen to make a black border around the arrow.  Then I printed the words lait frais, (fresh milk in French), in the font and size I wanted.  I  laid the words on the sign and traced around the letters firmly with a sharp ink pen. With a fine paint brush I painted in the letters.  Once everything was dry, I lightly sanded the sign to "age" it and then wiped a layer of Minwax natural wax on it.

This inexpensive French style milk bottle completes the theme of this little corner in my kitchen nook.  I found it for $3 at Ross!

Well, it's Friday, friends.

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and a safe and BLESSED weekend!

             

Friday Faves...Sometimes it's the little things

Like many of you, I love the show Fixer Upper.

Chip and Joanna Gaines turn hideous houses into beautiful homes, 

and when you're watching the show, it all happens in an hour!

In reality, there's a whole construction crew working, and sometimes months of time passing.

Our new to us home, has gone through quite a transformation in the eight months we've lived here.

In our real life, it has to happen one project at a time.

We save up and pay cash, so that means it doesn't all get done at once, like on Fixer Upper.

I wish it did!

Right now, bit by bit, we are working on getting the yard in shape,

so some of the remaining updates inside, refinishing cabinets, new countertops,

new bathroom flooring, are on the waiting to be done list.

Meanwhile, I'm content with puttering around and doing the little things.

One of those little things was copying some of the decor stores, like Pottery Barn and West Elm,

by adding some wooden beads into the tray that sits on my living room coffee table,

(aka an antique trunk).

Instead of paying some ridiculous price for a string of natural wood beads,

I just went to Michael's craft store and bought two packages of beads using one of their frequent coupons.

I had my granddaughter string them, one small, one large, one small, one large, on a piece of jute twine. 

Easy, peasy!

Throughout  the house, updated light fixtures and faucets were one of the first projects we did.

I recently completed another little update in our two bathrooms,

replacing the builder grade mirrors and towel racks.

To replace the mirrors, it was as simple as unscrewing the brackets that hold the large plain glass mirrors on the wall and taking them down, (thanking God that the builders did not use glue!).

Then I filled in the holes left by the screws and painted the wall where the mirror had been

 to match the rest of the bathroom.

I traced around the mirrors onto a piece of wrapping paper, marking the spots onto the wrapping paper where the anchor screws needed to be placed.

I could then use the wrapping paper and tape it onto the wall to make sure the mirrors were level and exactly where I wanted them.

Once I had the paper level and exactly where I wanted the mirrors to be, I used a finish nail to poke a hole through the paper into the wall, marking the spot where I needed to place my anchor screws.

Then all that was left was to put in the screws and hang the mirrors!

(I find these lovely framed mirrors for a great price at TJMaxx.)

The other little project was to replace the builder grade towel bars for 

these cute towel hooks found at World Market.

I waited until I received one of their coupon offers and went and bought one for each bathroom.

Yes, the oak bathroom cabinets need refinished, the countertops and flooring need updated,

but while I'm waiting to do those bigger projects, little and affordable updates are being accomplished.

It's Friday, friends.

Hope you have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and a safe and BLESSED weekend!

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