Wood Photo Candle Holders

I have missed blogging! The last month and a half was overtaken with Christmas gift creating. All of my creative juices went into gifts for our family and friends. Thus no blog posting could happen since I didn't want to ruin any Christmas surprises!

Without further ado, this is what we created for Christmas:

For our families, we put our talents together and also combined two cool ideas I had found online. On "So You Think You're Crafty" I saw an idea to use 4"x4" wood posts from the lumber store as candle holders, which I thought was very clever! I knew then that I wanted to make them for at least someone, if not my own home. I continued my hunt and researching for the perfect idea and remembered another idea I had seen-transferring photos to wood. The idea seemed too good to be true, so of course I wanted to give it a go! So, I thought why not combine the two ideas into that PERFECT idea!

We headed to Home Depot and Hobby Lobby for all our "ingredients," then went to work!

1. We cut our posts down to 6" sections and sanded the heck out of them. I of course attempted this on my own--my mistake doing it while Kurt was trying to do homework. There is no way he will leave me alone with power tools and well I got a piece in my eye... so he stepped in! {p.s. I was gifted protective eyewear for Christmas!!}

2. We used the drill to put holes in the posts. I wanted some to sit up and down and others to sit long ways, so we figured out how many of each we needed and Kurt drilled the holes. After much debate we decided having a hole big enough to put an actual glass votive holder in would be best for fire safety. Low and behold our drill wasn't strong enough :( Back to HD we went {Have I told you we live 2 blocks from HD- this is either an AMAZING coincidence or a terrible accident!} Kurt, 2 weeks before Christmas, bought a new drill that worked beautifully for this task!! {He also got a new one for Christmas--it's cordless so all is well now he has 1 of each! Lucky man!} 

3. Once the candle holders were ready I put my touch on them. I used the photo transfer video from Heather I saw on pinterest. It is wonderful and gives you step by step instructions--check it out!

Each candle holder was unique and personalized to the recipient. The photo transfer provides a vintage rustic kind of feel, which I loved. The picture did rub off in not so perfect places on occasion and required reprinting and re-sanding- but at least it offers an undo option when it doesn't turn out just like you want!

Here's a peak at how some of ours turned out:

TIP: Put some adhesive felt on the bottom so it can sit safely where ever you'd like.

TIP: When mailing these--package better than I did....all my vases were broken by the time they arrived in Oregon! :( Thank you mom for replacing them all!

Some had extra space where my photo didn't take up the entire side, so I painted the recipients favorite saying or their favorite sports team's logo. 

Broken vases aside, these were a hit! Can't wait to get a picture of one lit and in use just where they want it!

P.S. See what we did for our parents using the same photo transfer method! Photos on Wood- A Scrabble Transfer

--ZZB