Cute & Personalized Votive Holders

What you need:

*White Vellum
*scissors
*double sided tape
*tape measure
*tall, clear drinking glass/ milk bottles, votive holders, vases, jam jars etc. Basically whatever you have in your house.
*pastel colored tissue paper (lighter colored paper works best behind the b&w pics)
*alphabet scrap-booking stickers
*ruler
*Microsoft word 2007

-Use your tape measure to measure the circumference and height of the glass. Draw a rectangle corresponding to the height and width (circumference) of the glass onto your tissue paper and cut out.

-Using Microsoft Office 2007 (I reference Word  because most people have this installed on their computer by default. If you feel more comfortable using a different program, please do so!) highlight the page layout tab and select orientation to change the layout to landscape

-Now select the insert tab and select the picture icon. Then choose whichever photo you want to use for your votive.

-After your picture uploads to Word, the format tab should highlight automatically. On the far left, select recolor and select the black & white feature.

-Move your arrow to the right of the task bar and select the text wrapping drop-down menu, then scroll down to "behind text" Now you can position your photo freely

-On the farthest left of the task bar, enter the height and width of the rectangle. position and print on your vellum. **note: if you use an ink-jet printer, your vellum will curl up so prepare to catch your photo as it prints and secure it with heavy objects while it dries.

-Use double sided tape to add your vellum to the glass.

-Decorate with glittery alphabet stickers! I used my sister-in-laws name, birth year and age (it was her 30th!) but you can customize depending on the occasion (engagement party, anniversary, baby shower, graduation)

Thats it! Put a candle inside and light them up. Instant cuteness!!

Cupcake-Liner Garland

I love this garland for a tea party! I first saw this in a Martha Stewart catalogue that used her brand of cupcake liners but I adapted this one to use lots of different colors and elements so that each flower is unique!

To Make:

*various colors of cupcake liners
*scissors
*glue stick and tacky glue
*crepe paper
*mini pom-poms
*ribbon
*double-sided tape







The key to making these flowers spectacular is LAYERS! The more layers you apply to each flower the more dimensional it will look. I like to start out by folding the cupcake liner into eighths and then trimming off the ends to make a slightly smaller layer to stack on top. Set the liner on a flat surface. If it has a pattern on the outside, be sure to invert the liner so that the patterned side is facing upward.

To make them look more interesting, texturize some layers by fraying, scolloping or dye-cutting the edges. Use foil cupcake liners to add a sparkly layer to the flowers. I made some of the flowers smaller by trimming the regular sized liners but you could use mini cupcake liners as well.




Now apply glue to the bottom and layer the flower until you are satisfied. Lightly scrunch each layer to make the flowers more full.



Create the center of the flower by using mini pom-poms or crepe paper. You can tightly twist a small square of crepe paper, then use scissors to fray the ends Use a generous amount of glue stick or tacky glue to adhere to the center of the flower. **I like to use tiny sewing scissors as a tool to apply localized pressure to some of the smaller elements.

After your flowers dry, bust out your fancy ribbon and apply double-sided tape to the back of one flower and add the ribbon on top of that, then sandwich the ribbon with the back of another flower to secure the ribbon in place. Placing them back to back also balances out the weight so they don't all face downward when strung.

Voila! Pretty pretty garland for your garden party, high tea, bridal shower or just for fun. I bet you even have all the supplies already in your house!