Fall candle revamp roundup

This is the first fall that we've lived in our new house, so when it came to decorating for fall, I had a lot more space than the small amount of decorations I have could fill. Since we are still putting money into projects around here to make this house our "own" (this might be a lifetime process, I'll be honest) I was looking for ways to add a little fall time flavor on the cheap...or in this case free.

I remembered some boxes we have in the garage. They probably weigh a good...oh I don't know 50 pounds or more. And they are filled with nothing but candles...left over from our wedding...6+ years ago. But here's the thing! I'm not going to be ashamed of my pack-rat-ed-ness when the stuff is useful down the road. And this is one of those roads!

I pulled some of them out and got to work. First, I pulled out some fall-ish fabric I had sitting around my craft room. With the brown and orange gingham fabric, I simply cut a strip with my pinking shears, and hot glued it around the candle. Then, I simply tied a small piece of brown jute around the brown fabric. Can we say easiest project EVER?!

With the yellow candle, I had some of these left over yellow scraps of fabric sitting around the craft room
(I save almost all my scraps too, for reasons like this. Surely I'm not the only one. Anyone?) I hot glued it around the candle too. Then I took a really small piece of my jute and slid it under the fabric, then tied it in a knot. I like the gathered look to it. So cute, and so simple!

** Side note, next time, I would do this a bit differently. I would suggest tying the jute string around the fabric and THEN hot glue it on. It was a bit difficult to slide the string under the fabric...but totally do-able.

For the "BOO" candle, I took some extra orange and black grosgrain ribbon I had on hand. First, I hot glued the black ribbon on, only putting a couple dots of glue in the back. Then, I simply glued the orange ribbon on the same way. Since I was doing this project quickly (They have to be quick these days or they don't happen!) and since I don't have any fancy cutting machines like a cricket or silhouette, I used a good ole fashioned Sharpie! Then I just wrote the word "BOO!" right on the candle.

I saved my favorite for last. I was inspired by these on Pinterest, but my cheapness overcame me. I looked a few times for cinnamon sticks that aren't meant for cooking (those are real small), but I couldn't find any. Mind you, I looked in ALL the stores in my town that might have something like that- Kroger & Walmart. So, I decided to take a different route & kill two birds with one stone.

I have this giant tree that sits in my backyard. It's the tallest tree in our neighborhood. It also has some dead brancehs in it, so we are constantly finding sticks all over the ground in our backyard. I went out there & picked a bunch, and brought them in. (I hope my neighbors didn't see me, they probably think I am so weird. Well I am, but that's beside the point) I thought about washing them first (cause you know, they're dirty & gross) but I decided that was too OCD of me, and I resisted the temptation and went "au natural". Haha, I'm a dork.

Then, I just broke them up into sizes that fit my candles & hot glued them on!

Here are a few tips from what I learned. Hold the stick onto the candle before you glue it. Due to the varying bends and bumps of the stick, not every part will touch the candle. So to save yourself a little glue, hold it up how you like it, then peek and see where it will touch.

See how only part of it touches?
Hey...only trying to save you .003 cents on the glue you'll save! :)

Also, save some of those little pieces that break off accidentally, you can fill in some of the blank spaces. I like how some of the white peeks through, but in a few places it was a bit much. Stick scraps to the rescue! (This post should have just been titled "scraps & leftovers--crap that can be turned into something great!" hahaha) 

And that's it! I wasn't sure how I'd like them sticking up taller than the candle, or being shorter than the candle, but I really like the varying lengths. Obviously, I'm not going to burn these candles since the sticks would be exposed to the flame. I really, really like how they turned out, and always take a look at them on this once forgettable side table.

So I'm pleased! I was able to use up 6 of the many dozens of candles I still have in my garage (and yes, they will continue to stay there for another project "down the road"). They bring some cute fall details into the house, and better yet, since everything I used I already had on hand...they were FREE!
I'll be partying here this week!

Until next time!