DIY How To Make GRUNGY TEA-LIGHTS

I started off with these plain white, battery operated tea-lights. Unfortunately, I didn't know they lit up green until I got the entire case of them home.... 

But since I made these around the Christmas holiday, I didn't mind.

First thing I did was give the "flame" a more country look. Especially since I realized they lit up green. lol. I took some clear silicone (the higher priced one, not the white caulk kind) and mixed in some cinnamon spice in a throw away bowl.

Just mix it until it's a nice smooth brown color. No real recipe here. Just play around with it. It should look something like this:

Then I took the little candles, one by one, and hand dipped each flame. I just stuck it in, twirled it once and pulled it straight out, in an upward motion. Kinda fast, so that it gives a nice tip to the flame.

I let them sit and dry in the sun for a few hours. It took longer than I thought for the 100% silicone to dry. But well worth the time.

Then after they were finally dry, I took them inside and got together a mixture of Mod Podge and Cinnamon. I just kinda mixed it together on a piece of wax paper. Little at a time as I used it like so:

And I dapped it on with a large, fluffy brush, all around the base of the battery operated tea-light.

But as you see in the pic above, the cinnamon wasn't really clinging to the base. So then I even added a few extra shakes of the cinnamon straight to the candle to make it more grungy, while the Mod Podge was still wet.

Keep in mind, you can keep layering the candle base with these steps. And even can get the stuff on the bulb as I did in the pic above, it didn't hurt. Being as it was basically the same mixture, it blended right in.

And here they are afterwards. Some I sealed with an extra coat of Mod Podge and others I left with the dry Cinnamon look. I really prefer the ones on the left in this pic below. I think the Mod Podge gave it a more finished look.

And here's a few more pics of the finished project. Since for some reason, I snapped like a billion pics of them. lol. It was a great project to do though. Easy and fun. A definite, "you can't mess up" project. My fav. kind...

As you see, for a more finished touch for packaging for my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall, I put each in it's own plastic bag. 

I get these bags at Walmart, in the cup cake decoration aisle. They fit perfectly. Then I take a bit of homespun fabric and tie up the tops.

Since I got my battery powered tea-lights at a wholesale auction, I could afford to price them at only a $1.00 each. I love having dollar items in my Booth #555. It kinda gives a little cheapie item you can grab on impulse, but yet looks great for the money.

These are for sale in my Booth#555,

$1.00 Each

Below is a photo of these cute little lights in my bathroom.

I placed them in hanging Mason Jars.

And since they were green, they will be awesome night lights around Halloween!

If you get around to making these, let me know how yours turned out!

~Happy Crafting ya'll,
~Lisa

Second Set of Snowmen CLOTHESPIN Magnets

I made another batch of snowmen clothespins today. To view my first go at this, click here. This time I made a few small changes to give them a more prim appearance. Such as replacing some of the buttons, stars and hearts with words such as faith, family, friends, hope ect. The words are basically endless that you could write. I like to do a little country effect by putting the dots on the points of the letters.

I started by buying some plain, wooden clothespins at the DollarMart. A package of 50 for only $1.00. Then I spray painted half of them an almond color, the other half just white. I only buy the Rustoleum brand of spray paint at Walmart. One coat and you're ready to go.

Then I painted on all the faces step by step. All eyes of one style such as happy eyes, ect. And then all noses, all mouths and so on. Then the wording down the bottom on some, others I chose hearts, stars or x's. Just mix them up.

Next, I gathered the stuff I'd need such as magnets and glue.

If you notice in the next picture, I had to cut these magnets in half to fit perfectly on my clothespins because they were out of the smaller size at Walmart. But they cut easily and it did allow me to get double for my money. Hint: Never buy the rolls of magnets for these type of projects. They do not have a good strong hold.

Then I was ready to let them sit and dry. While doing so, I started cutting some fabric for the scarfs. So that kept me busy as I am a figity person. I sooo hate waiting. lol.

And here they are after I added their little scarfs!

After posting these, I also went back and added a little red to their cheeks. It just was the finishing touch for me. lol. And then packaged them individually this time around, in case some will be given as gifts.

These are now ready for sale in my Peddlers Mall Booth #555.

Snowmen Magnets

SNOWMEN CLOTHESPIN MAGNETS

I wanna share another great idea which spawned from eyeballs by day, crafts by night. She had used some mini clothespins and painted super cute snowmen on them. Then used them as mini clippies. Well, I've been making a lot of magnets lately so I wondered if I could get a strong enough magnet on these and it be able to hold notes and such on a refrigerator without falling, without looking silly.

And here's how I started. Here's the plain wooden clothespins found at the Dollar Mart for $1.19 for a pack of 50! SUPER DEAL!

First, I spray painted them all white in the Rustoleam brand from Walmart. Waited for that to dry, flipped them over, sprayed the backs.

And then I began to paint the cute little faces. Seriously, I mean I painted 100 of these little guys without giving up, my arm went numb lol.. To make the little faces, I referred to the ones in the blog above, eyeballs by day, crafts by night. All I really changed in this pic was some stars and hearts as the buttons. And now and then added different facial features because after about 50 in a row, the cute smiles got old. lol. So some I made frown and kinda grumpy like. :-)

And here's another pic of even some more...... But in these notice that I gave them an added hat to match their scarfs!

And finally after I got all the painting and adding the scarfs (pieces of old homespun) and optional hats, I began to attach the magnets. I tried two types of magnets, first the kind that comes on a big roll in the crafts department and is easily cut-able:

Which I learned that when I stick it on the fridge with a note, it didnt hold so well. So then I tried the round, more sturdy, .75 inch magnet. Found at Michaels which contain 50 magnets for somewhere around $3. I love these. They are super strong, but I had to take scissors and cut in half so it didnt look bad. But that was great, cause in the end, I got 100 strong magnets outta a pack of 50! Whoo hoo to saving money!

For some reason I can't find a pic of these on the back, but they did not look bad at all. I just tried to cut super straight because cutting magnets with a small set of scissors is not easy. lol.

And here's a few more pics, just because I love how these little guys turned out. lol. Hope you do too!

Price, after handpainting each and giving them their own personality :-)  lol :  $1.00

& remember, they have high quality magnets on the back and will hold papers on the fridge

Here they are after they are packaged and ready for sale in my Booth #555:

I make a lil cardstock printout with the booth id and link to my etsy shop as an insert. That way, if it is givin as a gift, they have a reference to where to purchase more. (That is "IF" I can ever get around to posting them!) Note: on a few of them, in trying something new, I put a piece of grapevine through the center, and it looked like snowmen arms. (Far right corner of last pic above.)

I also went back, after taking these pics and added a piece of homespun to the top left corner of each packet. It just was needing something more cute n' country, I thought. lol.

Set of 4 Snowmen Magnets I have packaged up.

Don't forget to send me a link to yours if you get time to try these!

Update: Here's a link to the next batch I made which have the words Faith, Family, Friends and more on them: Snowmen Clothespin Magnets