Halloween Decor: DIY Googly Eye Wax Candles

DIY eyeball candles

We’ve got major heart eyes for these DIY eyeball candles. It’s subtle, but an amazing DIY candle upgrade for Halloween. The candle is store-bought, but the DIY eyeballs take less then 30 minutes to add, and the supplies needed are minimal. These are not traditional plastic eyeballs, because that would be a fire hazard…instead, these googly eyes are made from wax.

Once Halloween is over, you can store the candles as-is, or scrape off the eyes, and you have your standard black candles back!

DIY Eyeball Candles for Halloween 

Materials:

  • Soy candle wax, white
  • Crayon, black
  • Black taper candles
  • Heat-safe glass with spout (glass measuring cup works great)
  • Pot with about 2 cups water on the stove
  • Bamboo skewer, 2 for each color wax

Directions:

Step 1: Pour about 2 tablespoons candle wax flakes in the glass measuring cup. Set the cup in a pot with water on the stove. Set heat to high and watch it melt. You will not even use it all the wax for these DIY eyeballs, but you can add more if needed. We didn’t use a white crayon with this project because we couldn’t find one. We have 5 of every other crayon, but not white. You can try to use a crayon instead of the soy wax. The black crayon we used for the eyeball was easy to melt and use; however it was somewhat fickle attaching to the white eyeball. By fickle, we mean, the wax had to be very hot and sometimes it would take a second try to stick to the white eyeball (so not THAT fickle). So, we are not sure if this was due to the fact that they are two different kinds of wax, or if the crayons are slightly different to work with.

halloween candles

Step 2: Use the end of the bamboo skewer (the round, flat end, NOT the pointy end) to dab into the hot white wax, and then dab onto the candlestick. You can let the wax cool a bit, so it hardens faster on the candle. As you know a candlestick is round, so if you tilt, the eyeball will be a little deformed. We dabbed a couple drops of wax along one “side” of the candle, and once they turned white and hardened, we would rotate the candle and dab along another edge. The wax takes about 30 seconds to harden, so this is not too time consuming.

diy googly eye halloween candles-halloween crafts

diy googly eye halloween candles-halloween crafts

Step 3: Once you have all the white eyeballs, now it’s time to melt the black crayon. It’s easier to melt the black crayon if you use a knife to cut it into little shavings. When it’s melted, time to dip the skewer (you can try either end of the skewer, depending on the size of the white eye) and dab gently on each eye. If the black doesn’t attach right away, like we mentioned above, dip it into the melted crayon wax again (make sure it’s hot) and try again. It should work, even if it takes a try or two.

diy googly eye halloween candles-halloween crafts

diy googly eye halloween candles-halloween crafts

 

Step 4: Step them in a safe taper candle holder, and watch them glow as Halloween nears. As always, with any kind of candle or candle-related project, please be careful. Don’t ever leave candles unattended, or within close reach of children. Keep flammables away from open flames. Be smart.

diy googly eye halloween candles-halloween crafts

diy googly eye halloween candles-halloween crafts

diy googly eye halloween candles-halloween crafts

Note: This post contains affiliate links. We may make a small commission if you purchase any of the items, at NO extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting our family blog. 

 

10 beautiful finds for your home

Bing impressed us all with a cozy and beautiful lounge during Alt 2014. It was a colorful mountain modern and vintage ‘home away from home’. It was the place to meet and greet throughout the week…and it couldn’t have been a more lovely setting. After 3 days, the room was disassembled, and we wanted more of that Bing prettiness in our own homes. So, today we found pieces we are sharing with you to Create Your Own Bing-inspired Lounge At Home!

Stay tuned next week because we have part 2 to this Bing lounge.

bing lounge_recreateyourown-1

1. Succulent Letters, Flora Grubb
2. Antique Window Pane, Etsy
3. Deer Head, Etsy
4. Orange Dining Chair, Overstock
5. Wood Crates, Wayfair
6. Floral Rug, Home Depot
7. Yellow Metal Counter Stools, Overstock
8. Lemon Metal Side Chairs, Overstock
9. Wood Bench, Overstock
10. Orange Metal Accent Table, Overstock or DIY paint this Wire Coffee Table orange

 {image via Justin Hackworth and Brooke Dennis for Alt Summit}

DIY CO Flag on Burlap

colorado state burlap flag_jsorelle

August 1 marks Colorado’s 138th birthday. Happy {early} Birthday Colorful Colorado! Being born and raised Colorado girls, we love to represent our state and give its flag some love. We also love burlap. So, we combined the two and created a piece of art…or a basket accessory.

You’ll Need:
a piece burlap
a photo of the Colorado flag {we used regular, white printer paper}
Golden GAC 800 Medium from Golden Paints
brush

How To:
Print a photo of the Colorado flag.
Use a brush to apply the gel medium to the item you plan to add the photo to.
Place the image, face down, on the item you are adding the photo to, in this case, a piece of burlap.
Gently press down and rub all areas on the back of the photo so the medium is applied, without bubbles, to the entire photo.
Wait for the medium to dry. We waited about 2 hours.
Use a wet wash cloth to ‘wet’ the back of the photo. The photo will look wet, and if it doesn’t, you may have to add more water to the wash cloth. Once the paper looks transparent, rub the paper with your hand or the wash cloth gently – it will peel the ‘paper pulp’ and reveal your transferred image.
We added the DIY Colorado burlap flag to a red basket with twine, and added lovely sunflowers. This would also be pretty framed, or mounted on an old, antique piece of white wood.

colorado burlap flag diy

colorado burlap flag diy_jsorelle

diy colorado burlap flag_jsorelle

{images j. sorelle}

How to Create DIY Ice Votives for Winter Ambiance

DIY ICE VOTIVES_jsorelle

As I made pasta sauce last week, I was about the throw away the cans of tomato paste and whole, peeled tomatoes, when I thought about their potential for my next project. They lived up to my expectation as the perfect prop to make DIY ice votives. I learned as I went along, and hopefully simplified it for you below so you can warm up the outside of your home this winter. I loved the results, and with the romantic snow falling outside, I wish I had more cans to make more votives! Try it before the snow melts and add it to next year’s winter to-do! Here’s how you can do it flawlessly.

DIY Ice Votives
NOTE: materials below makes 2 ice votives at a time, so multiply materials accordingly, or work on this project over the course of several nights, freezing two votives per day.

You’ll Need:

Water

Rocks

2 28 oz cans, emptied and rinsed

2 14 oz cans, emptied and rinsed

Cold temperature outside, or a freezer

How To:

Fill the large can less than halfway with water.

Fill the small 14 oz cans with rocks.

Place the small can inside the large can – the water should not overflow in the small can, so adjust the water accordingly. The top of the water should be about an inch from the top of the small can.

Move the small can so it’s in the middle of the larger can, with even spaces all around it.

Place the can carefully outside or in the freezer.

In the morning, the water should be frozen.

When It’s Time to Reveal Your Ice Votive

The ice takes about an hour to melt if you want to just let it sit, but who has that kind of time. I don’t, so I just held the cans of frozen water and rocks under the faucet and ran hot water over it for a minute or two. Fill the small can of rocks with hot water so it loosens and ‘releases’ from the ice. Run it across the top of both and you will see it melt.

Once the ice has melted enough to loosen the cans, remove the small can from the large can, and slowly and gingerly tip the large can over slightly so you can gently catch the ice votive.

Find a spot outside on your table, place them on a tray, line them up for a grand entry or make a spot in the snow for your ice votives.

You can fill with either real votive candles {I used real votives}, but it may be better to use flameless candles so the ice doesn’t melt too fast. On a cold week, mine lasted the entire week.

diy ice votives_jsorelle

diy ice votives_jsorelle

winter warmth ice votives

winter diy_ice votives_jsorelle

{images via J. Sorelle}

holiday craft party ideas

Nothing sounds more fun to me than getting together with the ladies, sipping on some vino or bubbly, grubbing on a cheese plate and doing crafts! Seriously, my kind of party. Some talented bloggers recently hosted some fun parties we’re going to share with you today. Make a date, buy the supplies {don’t forget the wine} and have some DIY fun.

Mary Costa Photography, Mix & a-Mingle Holiday Craft Party by Studio DIY

Melanie, a really talented blogger behind You Are My Fave {from Colorado like us}, let us share her Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Party idea with us. So cute, and looks like a great time. For a full tutorial, please visit You Are My Fave. Photos by Nicole Coleman.

Gather some old books, visit a library $1 book sale and host a DIY party to create a Book Pages Tree like Organized Clutter did.

Sugar and Cloth made an adorable Color Block Ornament Garland at their holiday party. See how here.

Paper {whites} hosted a lovely Holiday Craft party for her book club and the festivities included a cookie exchange, champagne sipping and gift tag creativity. Look at the goody bags below {I want} and look at more details here.

{images via Mary Costa Photography, Organized Clutter, Sugar and Cloth, You are My Fave/Nicole Coleman, Paper {Whites}}