Friday, November 26, 2010

last-minute thanksgiving craft

I decided to do a craft on Thanksgiving day. I had been looking through an old back-issue of Real Simple the day before, as we drove Carrie to the airport (Ken was driving, bless his heart--the traffic was very very bad), and I was really inspired by a table setting that featured natural materials. So I decided to make something in that vein.
{natural votive holders}
This was very fun for me and Faith, and the little boys wanted to get in on the action as well. We have a whole tray of these little glass votives from Michael's. They are sweet in a way, because I love candlelight, but super boring in their plain state. So I found linen scraps in my studio. We brushed on glue (mixed with a little water) directly onto the glass, then covered it with linen cut to size. I had a little spool of hemp twine, so we wrapped some of that around the middle and just stuck in little bits of nature found around the yard: fall leaves, rose hips, acorn caps stuck to a twig. I love the look of these.
These can be saved for another occasion if you just discard the nature bits and insert something else for a different season. Maybe a dandelion or a tiny rosebud or even a sprig of rosemary.
Here is the kid version. What the boys enjoyed doing: brushing the glass votives with glue mixture, finding nature bits in the yard, and using lots and lots of this adhesive ribbon trim.
And here is how they looked on our Thanksgiving pie table. I was really happy with the results!

7 comments:

Emily said...

Mary Beth, I don't think I've ever made a comment here, but I want you to know how much I love and look forward to visiting here every day. Thank you for sharing your sweet home life with us. You are a beautiful person.

Anonymous said...

What a good idea. I'll have to give these a try.

Andrea said...

Neat!

Laura said...

what a great project. they cast such a beautiful warm light.

Nicole Vangen said...

Loving this idea Mary Beth!

Namaste, Nicole

Anonymous said...

These are so simple and so beautiful. I love them. Must go find some linen.

taisa said...

Ooh, the candlelight through the linen is just beautiful. What a great, simple craft!