Make Your Own Decoupage Candleholders

Summer is in the air and with that for many comes the urge to create. Arts and crafts are great for kids, but what about adults. Kids should not be the only ones who get to create beautiful pieces of art and small crafts. One of the most relaxing things in the world is to find a creative hobby to sit down and put that craft to work. One of my favorite summertime crafts that also make a fantastic gift is Candleholders; below I am going to outline the butterfly candleholders.

What you need:

Glass candleholders (your choice of size)
Butterfly wrapping paper (or scrap booking paper!)
Yellow tissue paper
Decoupage (Mod podge)
Cuticle scissors
Small paintbrush
Damp paper towel

Directions:

Purchase some glass candleholders of your choice from your local arts & crafts, thrift shop or use what you have around the house. The average price starts at around 50 cents per holder depending on the size you like best.

You do not just have to use butterflies for this project, which is the way I learned to make these so I thought I would pass it on. Depending on what you like, or what the person your making the holders for likes you can use any number of different things. Reuse paper you have around the house and make this a green craft as well. You can use things from magazines, birthday/greeting cards, calendars, even books if you wish. Thin paper works best but you do not need to limit yourself.

After selecting what pictures, you are going to use for your project use your small cuticle scissors to cut the photos out. The nice thing about cuticle scissors is that they cut nice round corners without to much effort.

Decoupage is found in any of your local craft stores and comes in several bands; my personal favorite is Mod Podge. You get a nice big bottle of it for a reasonable price, and they have a selection of finishes. Decoupage allows glue like fixture of two objects together and leaves a lovely gloss finish, depending on how you apply it you can also get a fantastic textured effect.

Clean the class you are working with and than tear a piece of the tissue paper into 1-inch pieces. Using your small paintbrush (or a foam brush works great!) coat the tissue paper on one side with the decoupage.

Place the tissue paper where you would like it on the candleholder. Than brush another layer of the decoupage over the paper for the glossy effect.

Repeat the gluing on of the pieces until your candleholder is fully covered. For an effect of depth, do not line your pieces up perfectly, overlap them and coat with the decoupage. Do not forget to cover the bottom of your candleholder as well. Once fully covered set the holder up on its top to dry.

When dry you will want to put a final coat of the decoupage over the entire candleholder. Use your damp towel to wipe the excess off. Do your best to keep the coating even.

Continue gluing on pieces of tissue paper, overlapping at the edges, until the entire candleholder is covered (including the bottom--set the candleholder on its top to dry). Brush one last coat of decoupage over the entire candleholder. Use damp paper towel to wipe off any excess decoupage.

Allow the final coating to dry for an hour before you add anything else to the candleholder.

Now you will take your pictures, in this case butterflies and coat the pack with decoupage. Than position over the tissue paper where you wish the butterflies to be. Place another coat of decoupage over the placed pictures.

After placing the pictures, you will want to add another 3 to 4 coats of the decoupage over the entire glass. Making sure that each coat has time to dry in-between applications. Once fully dried you are safe to use or gift as you like!