Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Birch Wood Veneer Decorative Candleholder

Hello and welcome to our Creative Craft Hop hosted this month by Sara @Birdz of a Feather! We are delighted to have two hosts - Sara and Donna @ Modern on Monticello. Each one take turns hosting every other month! Thank you ladies for hosting this awesome Creative Craft Hop!

If you're coming over from Terri @Decorate with Tip and More, wasn't her sewing machine cover adorable! At the end of my post I'll tell you the next stop on this hop! But be sure to visit all of the creative crafters who joined this month for some amazing inspirations!

Today I'm sharing another fabulous wood veneer craft! I love working with wood veneer edging and I have a lot of it leftover from previous projects you can checkout here, here and here. I'm always looking for inspiration to use the wood veneer edging I have in my stash! Recently I came across a picture of a pendant light that was originally sold on West Elm but appears to be available here. When I saw this item,

right away I imagined making a tabletop candleholder out of wood veneer! I'm so excited to show you how I made a birch wood decorative candleholder for this month's Creative Craft Hop:

Materials Used:

Birch Wood Veneer - 3/4"
Cutting Mat, Ruler, Pencil, Scissors, Clamps
Round Wood Slice - 5.9" 7/8" thick
Round Wood Circle - 6" 1/8
Wood Circle Cutout - 6" 1/8
RapidFuse All Purpose Adhesive
Tall plastic cup (8")
Carboard tube (8")
Glass Cylinder Vase 7.5" - Dollar Tree
Paper Napkin
Mod Podge Matte
Brush
Parchment paper or plastic wrap
Colorful Flameless Tealight Candle
LED Multi-Color Flameless Candles

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

Directions:
First, using a ruler and pencil, divide a thick round wood circle into four sections starting at the 12 o'clock spot down to the 6 o'clock spot Then draw a line from the 9 o'clock spot over to the 3 o'clock spot.

Next, cut out sixteen, 16" long strips of birch wood veneer. There is a right side that shows the birch wood design. And a wrong side which is rough and actually has glue embedded on it.

After cutting out the sixteen strips, lay each strip on a cutting mat right side up and measure 3/4" from the end and draw a line. Then turn the strip over to the wrong side and on the opposite end draw another line at the 3/4" mark.

In other words, you should mark 3/4" from the end of each veneer strip and when you turn the strip over there should be a 3/4" mark at the opposite end on that side. You will use these marks to line up the strips with the edge of the wood circle

Once the lines are drawn, start gluing on the strips, first at the 12 o'clock mark using the pencil lines as a guide to gluing it on and . . .

glue on three more strips at the 3, 6, and 9 lines.

Continue gluing on more veneer strips in the center of the 12 and 3 strips and then the centers in between those strips.

Adding veneer strips around each section - placing them evenly in-between until

the wood circle is completely filled in with wood veneer strips.

Then cover the ends of the veneer strips and circle base with a thin wood circle using RapidFuse - a quick grab and dry adhesive to seal.

Now it's time to connect the base of the candleholder to the top ends of the veneer strips. I used an 8" tall plastic glass placed in the center of the wood circle to hold the wood circle cutout on top. But you can use something similar as long as it is at least 8" tall and wide enough to temporarily hold the opening of the cutout circle. Follow the same steps in gluing on the veneer strips, first at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 positions, using the pencil lines as a guide

Continue gluing on strips in-between those just like what was done on the bottom circle.

It might be necessary to remove the plastic glass support before gluing on more strips - you may have a hard time getting it out later. At this stage of gluing on the veneer strips, the cutout circle should be holding up on it's own.

You can use a thinner support like a cardboard roll - which I cut to the 8" size - until all strips are glued down on the circle cutout.

Once all the strips are glued on, add additional glue around on top. Then attach another wood circle cutout to the top to cover the strip ends to complete the design of the candleholder.

How cool does this look! I love the natural birch wood finish!

Next, I wanted to decoupage a glass candleholder with a pretty napkin design to place in the center. The lighter colors of the flowers in the napkin matched the birch wood veneer and would look extra pretty when lit using a flameless candle.

To decoupage, remove the plain layers of the napkin from the back of the printed side.

Measure the napkin around the clean glass vase, cuting off excess napkin.

Apply an even light coat of Mod Podge using a paint brush in sections on the glass and . . .

lay the napkin (printed side up) on top of the decoupage glue. Use parchment paper or plastic wrap to gently smooth out the napkin. Continue adding Mod Podge to the glass and then smoothing the napkin down. Going around the glass in sections until all of the glass is covered with the napkin design. Let dry.

Once the napkin has dried, cut off the excess napkin at the top rim. Apply another coat of Mod Podge over the entire napkin area to seal and let dry.

Decoupage candleholder with a colorful flameless tealight in purple.

Look how gorgeous the birch wood veneer decorative candleholder looks with a

Colorful Flameless Tealight Candle turned on!

And with a couple of my favorite looks using larger individual LED Multi-Colored Flameless Candles that's perfect for summer:

I hope you enjoyed reading how I made this adorable birch wood veneer candleholder!

Welcome once again to our Creative Craft Hop!

Up next is Cecilia @My Thrift Store Addiction sharing her lovely Garden Boots Planter. How cool is this!

Be sure to check out all of the talented bloggers sharing their awesome creations below:

Lemonade Sign - Ann @ The Apple Street Cottage

Miniature Fairy Garden Accessories From Nature - Donna @ Modern on Monticello

How to Sew a Simple Sewing Machine Cover - Terrie @ Decorate and More with Tip

Birch Wood Veneer Decorative Candleholder - Gail @ Purple Hues and Me

Repurposed Garden Boots Planter in 3 Easy Steps - Cecilia @ My Thrift Store Addiction

Soda Can Craft - Sara @ Birdz of a Feather

Creative DIY Flower Garden Sign Ideas - Easy to Make - Allyson @ Southern Sunflowers

Christmas In July Ornament - Tammy @ Patina and Paint

Beachy Bottle - Jenna @The Painted Apron

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Plastic Soda Bottle Floral Candleholder

3:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me candleholder, sustainable craft challenge blog hop, upcycle plastic soda bottle 15 comments

We all know plastic soda bottles are basically trash no matter that you toss them in the recycle bin. But who said plastic soda bottles can't be made into something decorative and useful at the same time! Something creative and treasured, too! Like a plastic soda bottle floral candleholder! Imagine one casting a warm inviting, colorful glow in the shape of a flower in your home!

Welcome to this month's Sustainable Craft Challenge Blog Hop hosted by Julie @Sum of their Stories! This month's theme is Trash to Treasure! The challenge is all about sustainable crafting with a different theme each month! The projects must have some sort of a sustainable element to them. This could be an upcycling or recycling element, or something that reduces waste, uses leftovers, etc.

Materials used:

Plastic soda bottle
Craft knife/scissors
Clothes iron
Flower petal template
White foam sheet - thin 3mm (19"x19")
Mod Podge
Parchment paper
Paint brush/sponge brush
Rolling pin (for shape)
Hot glue gun/glue sticks
Flameless color tealight

How to:

Let's begin by removing the label, and washing and drying a 2 liter, clear plastic soda bottle.

Once the bottle is dry, using a craft or utility knife, cut off the bottom portion following the ridge around the bottle or the imaginary line from the label that was once there.

I wanted the bottom portion of the candle holder smaller so I cut off . . .

a bit more, slicing it vertically and then . . .

horizontally around. Next, seal the edge with a clothes iron to give it a nice rounded finish. (I forgot to take a picture of this) Here's how to do it: First, set your iron on high. Then press the cut edge of the plastic bottle firmly on the flat portion of the iron for a few seconds until it starts to curve, giving it a nice clean finished edge. Doing this will not damage the iron in any way.

For the floral look, I found a flower clipart online which I copied and saved.

🠉

Then I printed out one of the petals that I enlarged to about five inches. I estimated that I needed fourteen petals. So I was able to put two petals on a sheet of paper to print.

Next, I took a large foam sheet and painted on a layer of Mod Podge and . . .

laid the petals on top of the Mod Podged foam sheet, smoothing them out. Then added a coat of Mod Podge on top of the petals to seal and let dry!

Once all the petals were dry, began cutting out the individual petals.

Since I wanted the flower image on both sides of the petals, I flipped the image on my computer and printed out fourteen more petals to be . . .

mod podged to the back of the first foam sheet petals.

The front and back petals fit perfectly together!

Once the double sided petals were dry, placed the individual petals on a hot iron (not shown) and then wrapped each petal around a small rolling pin to get the curved shape for all the petals.