Homemade Valentine's Day Luminaries

Luminaries are generally used during Halloween or Christmas, but you can also make them for Valentine's Day! The twinkling glow of a heart warming luminary will add a special touch to Valentine's Day. You can use the luminaries as a dinner table centerpiece or as decor on the mantle. You can also give them away as gifts to your loved ones.

Glass Jar Valentine's Day Luminary

A glass jar luminary is about the easiest luminary to make. All you need is a candle safe glass jar or vase and a votive candle. Then you need some clip art or cut outs to decorate your jar.

As for a jar, you can use a canning jar, a glass vase, or any glass container that is large enough so the flame of the votive candle is no where near the sides of the glass. To decorate the jar, you can print Valentine's Day clip art using your computer or you can cut hearts from red and pink paper. You can also use Valentine's Day stickers. If you are even a tiny bit artistic, you can also paint hearts and other designs on the jar.

When your jar is decorated, simply drop in a votive candle and light your luminary. You can see this image for an idea of how pretty a display of glass jar Valentine's Day luminaries can look. You can decorate your luminaries any way you like.

Tin Can Valentine's Day Luminary

A tin can luminary is made using an empty can, which will not actually be tin. Any aluminum can will work. Just wash out any size can and fill it nearly to the top with water then put it in the freezer. When it's frozen, you can poke holes in the can without the can collapsing.

Print out some simple clip art of a heart shape or whatever shape you want to use and tape it to the can. Then using an awl and a hammer, tap holes all around the design. You can repeat the design all around the can if you like. The more holes you have, the more glow you will get.

When you are done, place a votive candle in the bottom of the can and light it. If you want to weigh the can down, you can add some pebbles or sand to the bottom of the can then place the candle on top. Just make sure the candle is level and not tipped to the side.

Source for the image link: blogspot.com