First a rant and then a comment.
Rant: I have this bad habit of “liking” pins instead of repinning them. I account this to being lazy and not want to press extra buttons to repin things that I like or encounter from people that I am following. The problem with this laziness is that it gets me in trouble. Often times, I want to refer back to pins that I have encountered. When I go to my boards, I cannot find them. Instead, I have to look under my “like” pins. The problem is that I have almost as many “likes” as I do pins on my boards so sifting through hundreds of pins to find what I am looking for is no fun! I really need to repin all my likes and not “like” things because I get so frustrated.
Okay, rant over.
I want to comment on the joy of doing craft nights with friends. Since being back home from college, its been a joy spending time with my high school friends. These friends are like me in that they are living at home with their parents because it is so expensive to live in the Silicon Valley. Despite our dependence on our families, my friends have started a “craft night.” Every one to two weeks, my girl friends get together and work on some crafts. Sometimes we work on the same thing and other times we work on individuals crafts. Its a great opportunity to get creative, be crafty, and make something fun.
With that in mind, my friends and I got together for a craft night where we decided to re-purpose old candles. Thanks to pinterest, we had the idea to make tea cup candles. Therefore, this week’s pinup post of the week is dedicated to making tea cup candles.
Tea Cup Candles:
What you’ll need:
Pot or double broiler that you are willing to throw away after
tongs and/or a spoon that you are also willing to ruin
old candles
scents: vanilla extracts, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, etc.
wicks (can be purchased at Michaels or any craft store)
old tea cups
newspaper
bamboo skewer sticks
tape
Directions:
First place newspaper in an area where you are going to be working to avoid any messes.
Next, take two skewer sticks and tape them at each end. Insert a wick in between the two skewers and place the wick in the center of your teacup.
To heat up the candles, warm your stove under medium to high heat. Then, place old candles in a pot and allow them to melt. Another way to do this is to create a double broiler where you add water to one pan and then place a bowl on top and melt the candles with the double broiler. My friends and I tried both techniques and I recommend the double boiler. *Note: make sure the stove is not too hot that your wax boils over and all over your kitchen! Trust me, its a mess.
If you would like scented candles, you may pour the vanilla extract, cloves, cinnamon, or whatever you are doing into the heated candle mixture.
After the wax is melted, you pour the melted wax into the tea cup candles and let stand. It will take several hours for the tea cups to fully cool down before you can use them.
That’s it! It is really easy and a fun craft to do with friends. Just make sure that you pour the wax carefully so that you do not burn yourself and be careful where you pour it to avoid any messes. Candle wax is a pain to get out!
**Note: If you do pour candle wax on your clothes, I have a trick. Place your clothes on an ironing board and put a piece of wax paper or newspaper over the area where the wax is. Iron the newspaper or wax paper and then remove the paper to see the wax come off. It totally works!
