Some of you may know that I like to make my own candles. It is not something I have been able to experiment with much though as far as doing fun creative things with it nor is it something I have had the chance to do in quite a while simply because it is not a cheap hobby to take up. And we are pretty much broke 100% of the time these days. We pay for food first then pay what we can of the bills after that and if a bill can't be paid in full or at all, well that's just too bad. We can squeeze in smaller ("cheaper") fun things there and there, like a bag of Hershey's Kisses for dad or a new lip gloss for me. But beyond that we've got to try as hard as we can to stick to only the necessities. So the supplies for candle making just don't fit into my life anymore right now. Instead I have to settle for store-bought candles.

I know a lot of people adore certain brands of candles, and even more don't think there is anything wrong with even the cheapest of store-bought candles. But after having the experience of making my own candles I can assure you, even those "best" candles at the store (Yankee, for example) just pale in comparison to homemade candles when you are using the proper supplies. So settling for cheap store-bought candles is not exactly something I'm thrilled about having to deal with, but I know this is just how it has to be so for now I accept it.

To make up for this lack of quality candles in my life, I'm experimenting with getting creative with my candle holders. I've always liked unique candle holders too, anyway. But lately I like them more, and I'm learning how I can spruce them up a bit on my own, for just a few dollars here and there in the necessary supplies to jazz them up and make them more interesting.

Take the candle holders I got at the flea market. They were used, so need cleaned up a bit - but that doesn't bother me. I got four of them for $8 - had I bought them new the average price online is $7 a piece, plus shipping. So I saved money, and there's nothing wrong with them a little warm soapy water can't fix. But anyway; they are two-piece holders, The base is a silver metal spiral, and then there is a glass "goblet" looking element that you put in the metal base. Then you fill the "goblet" with water and pop a taper candle in, and as the candle burns the water buoys the candle up so it is always burning the same distance above the water level. Kind of like a cheater's floating candle. I think it would also be pretty if you used it with actual floating candles. But that's beside the point.

There is a picture of the candle holder here if you would like to see it, since I am sure my written description didn't work out well and you're wondering what this thing really looks like: click me please and thank you!

Well to jazz up this holder and make it more interesting, I added some silk flowers. I had wanted to use flowers to match the candles, but couldn't find any. I also would have preferred smaller flowers. These flowers were on partially flexible plastic, too. I wanted some that were on wire, to make wrapping and arranging them easier. But you work with what you can find, right?

And I can't share a candle picture without also sharing one where the candle is the only source of light...

I like the way in the second picture the flame looks like it's coming from the flower. That was not intentional - I wish I could say it was because oh what a clever idea. But no... it was just luck that it wound up looking like that.

Something else I liked about doing this was it gave me the chance to work with silk flowers a bit. That's something I have been wanting to try out for a long time but for whatever reason I never did get to it. It seems like something I could really enjoy though; it was fun. I may have to try to work some more silk flowers and other supplies into the budget over the next couple months and try making some pretty wreaths or other decor items.