Make a 4th of July candle holder

I find it difficult to throw anything out that has the potential for a new purpose. An empty glass food jar is just one of the many items that spark my creative spirit. They can be transformed into home decor for everyday decorating or for special holidays. Make a 4th of July candle holder using a recycled jar and paper cut outs.

Any decorative paper is fair game. I used wallpaper, scrapbook paper and old sheet music to embellish my candle holder. I also used my Cricut Expression machine to cut out the hearts and stars. If you don't have a personal die cut machine, I have provided the sizes of each of my pieces so that you can cut these simple shapes by hand using scissors.

Things You Will Need:

Narrow-mouth quart jar (I used a spaghetti sauce jar)
Measuring tape
Decorative paper-blue and red
Scissors
Double stick tape
Sheet music
Cricut Expression
Jubilee Cricut cartridge
Doodletype Cricut cartridge
Hot glue gun
4 red, white or blue buttons
Glass votive candle holder
Tea candle

Step 1
Measure around the circumference of your narrow-mouth jar using a tape measure. Add a 1/2 inch. Cut a rectangle from decorative blue paper 3 1/2-inches wide by the circumference measurement. Cut a strip of sheet music 1-inch wide by the circumference measurement.

Step 2
Place the blue rectangle on your work surface with the right side facing up. Apply double-stick tape to the back of the sheet music strip. Center the length of the strip on the rectangle.

Step 3
Wrap the length of the blue rectangle around the center of your recycled jar. Overlap the ends. Apply double stick tape between the overlapping ends to secure.

Step 4
Cut four 3-inch hearts from decorative red paper using the Jubilee Cricut cartridge. Cut four 1 1/2-inch stars from old sheet music using the Doodletype Cricut cartridge. These were the cartridges that I had available. Any cartridges with hearts and stars would be appropriate.

Step 5
Lay each of the red paper hearts on your work surface with the right side facing up. Apply double stick tape to the back of each star. Center the sheet music stars on the hearts. Apply a dot of hot glue to the center top of each star. Place a red, white or blue button in each dot of glue.

Step 6
Center and attach each heart/star layer on the blue rectangle using hot glue. Space the layers evenly around the circumference of the jar.

Step 7
Measure around the circumference of the jar's mouth. Add a 1/2 inch. Cut a strip of blue paper a 1/2-inch wide by the circumference measurement. Wrap the strip around the jar's mouth and overlap the ends. Center the seam on the same side of the jar as the blue rectangle. Secure the overlapping ends with double stick tape.

Step 8
Place a glass votive candle holder in the top of the decorated 4th of July jar and insert a tea candle. Note: The sides of votive candle holder should be tapered to prevent the holder from falling into the jar.