DIY Candles

I have been saving old candle jars for a little while now. They are far too pretty to toss into the recycle bin.  At a recent trip to the craft store Michaels I found candle making supplies. I had wanted to make candles but didn't really know where to look for supplies.  So I purchased their Beeswax, wicks, wick positioning tools, and wick holders.  When I was finished I learned that I needed way more than a 2 Lb bag of wax.  So I finished about three of the candle jars and will have to buy more. 

So here is the process I tried.

The first step is to clean out the old jars. There are several ways to do this.  I scraped out as much of the wax as I could with a butter knife.  I boiled some water and poured it into the jars to melt the residual wax and then let it cool so the wax forms at the top of the water.  Then I used paper towels over a flour sifter to drain the water but keep the wax from going down the sink drain.  After that I gave the jars a scrub with hot soapy water. 

This photo shows the beeswax, oils, wicks, wick holder, and wick positioners. All from Make Market at Michaels. 

This two pound bag makes two medium size candles. 

I was a little worried the oils would be synthetic fragrances and give me a headache but they actually smell pleasant and give off accurate scents.  This set included all four fragrances, Peony, Fresh Sage, Gardenia, and Rose. 

This Christmas jar is one of my favorites and I will have to look for a Christmas scented oil to use. 

For the wicks, I cut them to size and used pliers to clamp them into the holders.  I used hot wax that I dripped at the bottom of the jars to keep them in place. You can also used adhesive. 

The wick positioners only worked on my smaller jars so for the larger sizes I used a chop stick to hold the wicks in place.

These seem much better at holding the wicks upright. 

The wax was melted in two ways.  I tried the microwave method, using a Pyrex jar and a double boiler.  One advantage of the microwave is that I was melting the wax directly into something I could pour the wax out of. The double boiler had the advantage of melting a greater quantity of wax.  I made sure to pour the wax into the candle jar that was placed in the sink just in case I spilled it.   I decided to pour the wax into the pyrex jar instead of into the jar so I wouldn't make a mess.   I added the scented oil once the wax was melted and used half of the jar of oil per 1 pound of wax.  The color of the wax stayed nice and white. 

I am happy the way it turned out and happy I can reuse the jars.   But like I said earlier, I am going to purchase about six more pounds of wax to complete the rest of the jars. 

 xo

Cathleen

Closet turned Wrapping Paper/Crafting Space

My little crafting corner is complete! This room was once just a game room and the closet just a place to store costumes, CD's, and other random stuff.  After I lost my craft room to my son's new space, I turned this little corner into the crafting/gift wrapping area. I think it's just perfect! I can also sew here too.  Here is sort of the BEFORE, but really it was more "during" when I had to put craft supplies in here during the transition. But you get the idea that it was really just a closet that had I painted earlier and had a plastic clothing rod. 

The first thing I did was unbolt this shelf and remove it.  It left pretty big gaping holes in the wall so I used my Patch N' Paint and filled in the holes. Luckily I also had some touch up paint to cover the holes. After that it was ready.

AFTER!

We sawed off the legs of the brown table top that was in the garage and it fit perfectly in here at exactly 24" deep. We did have to remove the inside door trim to make it fit though. We placed it at Counter Height just above the storage cabinets below. This height of the table makes wrapping gifts way easier on your back.

It's also hardly noticeable but I lined both sides of the closet with wallpaper that I already had left over from the laundry room makeover. Then I added four 2' Rubbermaid shelves with black brackets to either side just above the table top. And additional larger 4' shelf above the wrapping paper holder. Up there I fit a large wrapping paper storage bag that holds Christmas wrapping paper (link below.)

On either side of the table, holding up the table, are these black Halifax cabinets. They were pretty easy to put together and hold tons of gift bags and party supplies.

For some hidden storage underneath the counter I installed some simple bike hooks to hold additional wrapping paper.

I found super cute baskets with wooden hooks to hold additional fabric and crafting materials.

The gray felt bin is my favorite. The simple leather ties are so adorable.

The light fixture is a simple linen shade attached to a light kit you can get online. It plugs in and has an on/off switch. The extra lighting in here was a must.

Because I removed the doors for ease in using this space, I installed a single curtain rod above the door and these pretty drapes. The rod installation didn't go as smoothly as I hoped because I hit something hard behind the wall with my drill about half way into the wall. Only one of my pilot holes was deep enough for the 6 screws that came with the rod. In order to compensate I clipped the dry wall studs with a wire cutter about half way down and used shorter screws. Sometimes you have to improvise and this adds time to any DIY project. 

It was a happy accident too that the drapes play really nicely with the chairs I reupholstered with Scott Living Fabric collection a while back. I must have already known that in my head! 

 

My grandfather built this beautiful hutch and my Grandmother painted it. It works really nicely to hold even more craft supplies and sewing supplies. I think the muted green works nicely with the wall color as well.

I'm so happy to have my upstairs functioning once again and have a place for the kids to spread out and use this space for their "homeschooling" art projects.  Maybe I should sew a mask or 5 when I have a free minute. :)

Stay well friends,

xoxo
Cathleen

Sources:
Rubbermaid Shelves
Shelf Brackets
Larger Shelf Brackets
Curtain Rod
Curtains
Polka Dot Bins
Gift Wrap Bag
Felt Bin
Chair fabric
Bike Rack Hooks
Black Storage Cabinets

DIY wrapping paper rack

The third and final room on the upper right side of the house is coming along nicely. We have deemed this last bedroom the Craft/Art room.  Oh and wrapping room.  Every wrapping station needs a wrapping paper holder.  Probably the easiest DIY project around.   And a super cute and a fun way to display all that fun wrapping paper.

For the holder we purchased 4 small backing pieces to secure it to the wall, two side pieces and 10 dowels.

For the two side pieces, one straight 1" x 4" x 8' board was cut into two 42" pieces at Lowes, and two 1" x 2" x 8' whiteboard were cut to make four 42" lengths for backers.  After letting the paint cure (Flirty Fuchsia by Sherwin Williams and a coat of PolyUrethane,) the backer pieces were mounted at studs just under 12" apart (measuring exactly 42" to the top, then we used a Kreg pocket hole jig to drill holes in the side pieces at the positions of the backers, and used a spade bit to drill holes for the dowels at 4" intervals (top of dowel to top of dowel. The dowels measure just under 3/4" and were stained gray.

The rack was mounted directly above the counter top space so that I could reach all the way to the top. So cute huh! A dedicated space just to wrap gifts. I even picked up extra scissors and tape that are on the side.

Stay tuned for more craft room updates including this cool worktop space.

xo
Cathleen

Ikea Play Kitchen reimagined

I've been pondering a play kitchen for quite some time, searching high and low, through Craigslist ads daily, Pinterest daily etc. for design ideas. I wanted to originally make a play kitchen for our daughter using an old entertainment center or perhaps turning her dress up station into a kitchen, but decided it was going to take up too much space and/or effort to remove furniture from her room without her getting suspicious. Finally it turned out that the best way to make her a kitchen was to reimagine a generic looking Ikea kitchen. I finally found one on Craigslist for $50 but nicely talked the lady down to $40. Right before Christmas this is easy to do since people want stuff out of their house to make room for the new stuff.

So here it is, the "new" play kitchen for our daughter.

This is a stock photo of what it looked like BEFORE:

Everything got a makeover including Gray paint for the lower cabinets, gold/brass toned hardware and fixtures, a pretty light turquoise pop of color for the upper cabinets with a white fridge and a ruffled fabric backsplash.  

All of the accessories were found at a local thrift shop and I was lucky enough to find fabulous pieces in mint condition. These included 6 real china plates, a dessert tray that I painted gold, a 50's sugar bowl, 4 china mugs, several brass pans, black metal measuring spoons, measuring cups, an ice cream scoop, a spatula, 2 metal spoons, a whisk, a 70's metal teapot and a pretty ceramic lidded dish. Right before Christmas all the housewares are 50% off, cha ching!

The sink and faucet look much better in gold. I found rings at the local hardware store to add to the bar in the back and a spring rod holds the fabric curtain in place.

4 knobs were added to the front from Cynthia Rowley. Anthropologie has similar knobs.

The "fridge" on the right holds all of her new wooden food.

I sewed a little tea towel from some old fabric and two cute little napkins.

This little spice rack was purchased from a local thrift store along with several glass and ceramic salt and pepper shakers.  It will be mounted the wall at some point.

The counter top got a marble finish.

Sewing the curtain was simple using a main piece that I attached three longer pieces to using a ruffle technique. The top portion was sewed in a loop to slide through the spring rod.

Here is the little 70's ceramic dish in the "microwave."

The candy dish was actually silver when I purchased it but decided to spray paint it gold.

The stove also got a rim of painted gold.

Here is the cute 70's tea pot. The inside got a new coat of paint due to some rust, but otherwise it gets the job done.

As for the process and supplies you'll need

1) Ikea Duktig mini kitchen plus top section for mini kitchen

2) 4 decorate knobs

3) 1 tension rod

4) 2 cans of white primer

5) Assorted fabrics for window curtain. 

6) 1 can Gold spray paint

7) 1 can of a fun color for top portion

7) 2 cans of gray spray paint

8) Gray and Gold acrylic paint and sea sponge for marble counter top.  

As far as the process, my husband dismantled most of the kitchen for me and I primed everything, waited a day and then spray painted everything and waited about 3 days before we reassembled everything. 

This upper portion was tricky. You have to make sure to tape off the parts you don't want painted for the microwave section.

The handles and faucet were hung from twine while being painted. This made the most sense in terms of time.

When I sewed the curtain I brought the upper portion inside to take all of my measurements.

For the countertop I primed it and put two coats of white paint on it. Then I used acrylic gray paint and a sea sponge and dabbed it in various places. I watered down the paint first.  Then to get the marble effect I used a water bottle to spray the paint to feather it out. I used a paint brush to paint in some gold lines.

The look on my daughter's face on Christmas morning was the best part of the whole project. She loves her new kitchen and has been cooking up fake meals ever since.

Hope you like the new and improved Ikea "hack." It was fun and so far the paint is holding up great!

xo

Cathleen