Friday 2 January 2015

Twinkly Tealight Holders


Back in December, when I was drowning in a sea of tinsel, wrapping paper, and pine needles, I'd seen a brilliant post over at Christina's blog A Colourful Life (http://christinascolourfullive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/sunday-evening-catch-up.html), and then, another lovely post on a really similar theme over at Gillian's Tales From a Happy House blog (http://www.talesfromahappyhouse.com/2014/12/alpine-tea-light-holders.html).


Both posts featured empty glass jars of some type, varying colours of tissue paper and watery glue .... the making of tealight holders. What fun :) I mean, who wouldn't enjoy designing a tealight holder and then making it in the comfort of your own kitchen with Christmas sweets to hand ? The answer to that question is that apparently 11 year old boys with autism don't enjoy it. Tantrums a-plenty. The mess; the scissors being too blunt, too big, too small; the paper not cutting right; the colour being wrong; the pieces not being square ..... but you live and learn, eh ?! So it was just us girls then.


We set about making a design each on paper first. Mainly so I could gather all the necessary materials without twenty questions at the same time.  And if you are a 10 year old girl it is practically the Law that all design type projects require One Direction pencils. Luckily Little Miss has a few.


Little Miss was the self-proclaimed expert, having done decopatching (to use the grown-up term) at both school and Brownies. She is the most laid back of my children and just got on with it, a lovely quick sketch of a rainbow and then she just dived straight in. 


Little Tomboy is a bit fussier, and wanted a very precise design (oh groan - precise usually spells disaster in 7 year olds I've found - expectation rarely matches end result. I helped her design a Stampy-Cat face (those of you with Minecrafters may know what I'm on about) which luckily she was very happy with once its decopatching interpretation was complete.


I went for a sort of glowing heart against a cool blue backdrop. No sketch. Life on the edge. All we needed was some  empty jars (rummage in the garage), ordinary tissue paper (rummage in children's craft box), children's paint brushes (rummage in paint sets and give several brushes a good wash - yuck), and watered down PVA glue. I was fairly unscientific, I used maybe about 1 part water to 2 parts PVA but I think I should have made it more watery. Another lesson learned! Our materials were gathered, we got stuck in to choosing paper, and then chopping it up.


Then it's just a case of pasting and layering. I guess there are a million and one ways to achieve differing effects, but we kept it simple. Paste some glue over an area of the jar, lay on a small square, paste some glue over it to sort of seal it, repeat. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Totally relaxing, really calming, very zen. You can't really go wrong. And if you do, just pick it off, or cover it up, or go with the flow and change your design as you go along.






Loads of fun. I may or may not have continued on my own for an hour after Little Miss and Little Tomboy wandered off .......

I did another 4 (yes, f.o.u.r) jars, er, I mean tealight holders, one to represent each season. 
For winter, a blue background with a few stars twinkling through. 
For spring, some tulips against a light greeny-blue background.
For summer, greens, blues, and pinks in a rainbow affair.
For autumn, orange, red, and purple to resemble fiery tones.

As the afternoon grew darker, and I realized I really should stop messing about and cook something for tea, I called it a day - it was time to light the candles - hurray :D






Aaaah lovely. Don't you love the soft twinkliness glowing through the semi opaque layers of colour. Very calming, and soooo pretty :) 



26 comments:

  1. These are just beautiful! I now want to get out of bed and get my crafts material out. Thanks for linking me in, that's very kind of you. Cxx

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    1. You're welcome :) I need to go and fix the link properly, I posted from my iPad cand haven't worked out how to do hyperlinks from the blogger app, so I'll need to get the laptop out (from under magazines, cards, letters, wool, etcetcetc :)
      Jillxo

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  2. Your candle lamps turned out gorgeous.. so creative of you!
    ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  3. Great job Jill - & kiddos! They turned out so pretty. Remind me of the stained glass I love so much. Bravo! xo

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  4. I think they are brilliant, and I can also see why this would put your son over the edge, to many steps and cutting and glue are never a good combination. But how fun for you and your girls, I love the end result and may have to make some myself.
    Hugs and Happy New Year,
    Meredith

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    1. It's a constant battle within me. Do I not do things because it will push him over the edge but then the girls miss out, do I do the things but not include him and risk his getting upset because he feels left out, or do I do the things, and include him, and run the risk of his tantrums spoiling it for all of us. No solution seems ideal, but then it's not an ideal situation. And a decision I have to make on every single aspect of every day! Aargh!

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  5. I especially love the one with the tulips !!
    Ps - all my best wishes for you and your family for 2015 !!
    I also owe you my apologies - I accidentally deleted your comment on my blog (strange thing is, I don't know how I did it... One minute it was there, next thing, gone with the wind... The mysteries of blogger...) and I don't seem to get it restored...
    So via your blog, I send you my wishes, plus a big hug from my donkeys ;-) !!

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  6. Very pretty and it looks great fun. I miss those crafts with my son. 17 year olds aren't too keen on gluing and sticking with Mum anymore. X

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  7. What a fun couple of hours spent crafting with your daughters, creating some wonderful memories and of course the tealights. They look amazing.

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  8. How fantastic! I love the star, heart and tulips best of all, but I really like the ones that your daughters did too, they are growing up to be very creative just like their Mum! xx

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  9. Wonderful !!! Great idea and great job !!!

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  10. These are so cute! I'm impressed with the planning of the cat face, well done! My son always tends to go for the elaborate in artistic projects too, but I never discouraged him, and he churned out some amazing pieces both at home and in school. There was always a smidgeon of frustration there, but a bit of guidance usually got his vision to the final results. Love the look of all your tealights in a row :) Wendy x

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  11. Jill, how lovely, I too have seen a few blogs on the same theme recently...I love candle lights gently twinkling in the evening xx

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  12. Great lights! I remember making these when I was a kid with my mum :)

    Take care
    Anne (Crochet Between Worlds)

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  13. Hi Jill, I wanted to stop by and wish you and your family a very Happy New Year. I love your tea lights. I might try doing these with my granddaughters. Thanks for the clever idea. By the way, have you done anymore work with your loom? I know how excited you were. Can't wait to see what you make with it. xoxo

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    1. Hi Susan, no, I haven't had a chance to use it again, Christmas and children's stuff got in the way, they go back to school on Tuesday, and I have my next plan in mind! xxx

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  14. They look really good! I love simple ideas like this that can be upcycled into really effective ideas. Have fun with all your votive holders throughout the year!

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  15. So so pretty, I think it might just be 11 year old boys in general who have craft aversions, I tried to convince my nephew to make a button bauble for his Mum while we had him to stay and had a similar outcome to you. Yet ever since he saw the finished one he's been saying how lovely it is, he favourite thing on the tree, oh well never mind Clare xx

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  16. Hi Jill, I do remember visiting you before too, thank you for refinding me! Your twinkly lights are so lovely. I would have been just like you and got into it and forgot it was time for tea! Sarah x

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  17. These tea lights are very sweet :) We still have the ones my children made at a workshop one Christmas years ago. It's lovely that you all (or most of you!) had a moment to make something together
    Cathy x

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  18. Happy new year Jill! Your tea light holders turned out so pretty.
    Marianne x

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  19. Jill! Thanks so much for visiting my blog and introducing yourself. I have been scrolling back through your posts and enjoying them so much. I intend to add your blog to my blogroll in hopes that I can visit your blog regularly. I love your seasonal tea lights as well as Gillian's. Interestingly the art workshop I went to Dec. 27th we started a similar project, except not with tea lights in the bottle...we are layering tissue paper, photos, and ??? on the outside of a bottle...my bottle is pitcher shaped...I like the tea light idea better, I think. I agree with your comment about garter stitch which I used in making the scarf for my son. I was too distracted before Christmas to count any other sort of pattern and garter is an interesting looking texture but very smooth and soft to the touch, even if it is not very popular with some. Wishing you and yours a happy creative 2015...oh and I am leaving my Christmas tree up until the 12th day of Christmas, too :-) xx

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  20. Yes, really lovely. I didn't get round to making any tealight holders. There's always next year.

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  21. These are wonderful! I love them, so individual and creative. x

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Thankyou so much for visiting, and for taking the time to leave me a comment :) I really really love getting little messages, I read and value every single one, so thankyou again, and have a great day :)
Jillxxxxx