Santa's Belly and Harvest Angel Candles Made For Cheap!

Happy Monday one and all.  Today is the official day to celebrate Veteran's Day, although yesterday was the actual date of the Armistice ending World War One on the eleventh day  of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour.  Thank you to all who have served and are serving so that we may live free.  I pray peace on our world that war shall be no more.

Now, for a really scary update in case you haven't thought of it in these terms -- THANKSGIVING IS NEXT WEEK!!!  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.  That means Christmas is right around the corner  (actually 43 days from today) and if you are working on project for gifts, it is time to  get with it.  Since I have been busy making Halloween costumes for the grandsons, and crafts for the Elves' Faire at their school, I am a bit behind on my own projects.  So yesterday, I began in earnest.

If you have neighbors, co-workers, friends, or distant family that you like to remember at holiday time but don't have a huge budget (that would be us), or you like to have a hostess gift to take when going to parties, here is just the project for you that will cost you very little!

These are made using saints (or devotional) candles that I bought at The Dollar Tree.  Saints candles are usually decorated with the likeness of Saints and are very colorful.  These candles come in plain glass and you can do innumerable things with them.  They are only a dollar each.  My.  Kind.  Of.  Price.

This is a blank slate, a palette you can do anything with.  I decided to make "Santa's Belly's" out of these candles.  When I say Santa's Belly, what do you think of?  Red coat, black belt, big buckle - right?

You can buy 9x12 sheets of felt for $.25 or $.35 at JoAnn's or Michael's.  I had two red sheets and one black that I used for this project.  That is a total of $.75 for felt.  Cheap enough, right?  You need a little hot glue, some cardboard (like from a cereal box), white glue, some glitter and I decided to use these cute little snowflakes from a garland that I bought at Hobby Lobby for half price at $1.50.  I got ALL these snowflakes which is so much cheaper than buying them in small individual packages.  You just have to cut them apart.  Easy peasy.

Fold the sheet of felt in half long ways and cut.  This will wrap around the candle with some left over and you have enough for two candles from one sheet.   Place the felt in the middle of the candle, leaving some of the glass exposed at the top and the bottom.  Run a bead of hot glue down the glass, and press one end of the felt to it.  Now, tightly wrap the felt around the candle holder so that you have a bit of felt overlapping your original glued edge.  Trim any excess felt, run some glue down the edge of the glued felt and press the seam down until it holds.  You want a very slight overlap.

Cut across the 9" end of the black felt sheet about 1 inch from the end.  This will be the belt for your Santa. Place the black felt strip in the middle of the red felt and glue one end over the seam.  Wrap the strip around tightly, cut off any excess and glue the felt so it overlaps the first edge you glued down.  If you have some black ribbon on hand, feel free to use that in place of the felt.

Now, to make the belt buckle.  Cut a rectangle of cardboard about 1.5 x 1 inch.  Spread some white glue or Mod Podge on one side of the cardboard and sprinkle with glitter.  Glue the "buckle" to the center front of the belt.  This is when I decided to add one of the small snowflakes for a little extra decoration. I put a little hot glue on the back of the snowflake and center it on the belt buckle.

I plan on giving these to everyone who comes for Thanksgiving.  I also made some burlap angels that look like this.

I used some burlap ribbon that I had left from my Thanksgiving decorations.  I did the same thing with the burlap that I did with the felt.  After you glue the burlap to the middle of the candle, make some wings.  Cut a 10 inch piece of burlap ribbon and twist it in the middle like this.

I put some hot glue on the inside of the twist to hold the shape of the wings.  Put hot glue in the center of the "twist" and press the wings to the top of the burlap in back over the seam.  Now, shape the wings using your scissors.  I kind of cut an arch from the bottom, angling in to the top so they look like wings.  Use your judgment.

Wrap some sisal twine around the middle and tie in a bow.  I glued a couple of snowflakes to the bottom of the twine for weight and decoration.  Look how pretty this havest angel looks on my mantle. Here is another on the book case inside our front door.

These harvest angels look so beautiful with my thanksgiving decorations.  I will be giving these on Thanksgiving also as they will transition to the Christmas holiday season with ease.

Now, lets talk economy here.  The candle cost a dollar, half a piece of felt was 17.5 cents maximum, a little hot glue, glitter, and cardboard, say 10 cents.  The snowflake cost about a penny.  Same for the angel.  For less than $1.30 you have a beautiful hand made gift to give and everyone loves candles (these are unscented by the way).  All you have invested is a minimum of money and a little time to let someone know you are thinking of them.  How awesome is that?

If you want to buy these candles, they are in the section with all the vases and candle holders at The Dollar Tree.  I am sure they can be found elsewhere, just not positive where.  If you find them other places, please let me know so I can tell my readers.

Have fun with these projects, and maybe you will come up with some ideas of your own.  Let me know how it goes.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

A handmade gift says I was thinking of you.