Eyeballs By Day, Crafts By Night

After a loooong miserable winter, I think it’s safe to say that Spring has finally sprung! Just as I knew it would, the nicer weather has motivated me to get back into the crafting groove and also do some “pickin” at the local thrift stores. Lately, my big project has been mass producing these country jar candles as wedding favors ~ 120 to be exact! You may remember them from one of my very first posts, and they are still just as fun, easy, and inexpensive to make. They are somewhat time-consuming (when doing a large quantity like this) but each jar only costs $1 at Wally World, making for a very economical set of favors!

I like to use these particular jar candles because they come with an “Easy Peel” label, which allows you to very easily take off the label for crafting. They also smell really great and come in a variety of colors.

For mass production, I found its easiest to tear all your homespun strips ahead of time. Mine were about 1″ wide and I just tore them, to get that raggedy primitive look. For those who don’t have fabric on hand, I usually get mine by the yard at Joann Fabrics.

I then use a glue gun to apply the homespun strips. Just a little dab will do ya!

I don’t worry about having perfectly clean seams where the fabric comes together, because I plan on wrapping them with twine which camouflages the spots that were glued.

I then pre-cut a bunch of pieces of twine and wrapped them around the candles a few times and tied them in little knots on the back. I glued on rusty stars and hearts on the front of each candle using E6000 glue. I do not like to use hot glue for the rusty pieces because I find they very easily pop off – hot glue doesn’t stick well to the rusty tin. It also melts as the candle heats up!

This person also wanted the candles wrapped and tagged for her special day. I laid out the text in Microsoft Word, and used my regular ink jet printer to print them out on sheets of brown kraft paper (from A.C.Moore’s). I used a tag shaped punch, but you could also just cut them out into squares or tags and hole punch them!

Here is the finished product! The baggies are actually candy/baking treat bags.  They are a perfect thin cellophane. I these favors will be just perfect with her country themed wedding!

I have to share my latest thrift store score because I got some AWESOME items! It just goes to show you that you have to stay persistent and keep going back, even if you seem to have no luck.  After many trips finding nothing at all, I got all these great items that, after a little cleaning up, are some real treasures! Some repro enamelware, tea pots, a crock, and a very cool, vintage looking “Bird Watcher” sign! All will go to my booth at the Carriage Place!

I got this other amazing group of antique medical items off of Craigslist. I can’t even tell you the incredible freakin low price I paid for this lot because you will literally die!!! I plan on keeping some items for my “oddities” collection, and selling the rest via Etsy and my co-op. They are all from a pharmacy in northern NY. All of the funnels, beakers and bottles are glass, and the mortars & pestles are cast iron and brass. Simply amazing.

Have a GREAT Easter and happy pickin’ & craftin’!