Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Mother’s Day Candle Creations

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Mother’s Day is coming fast and if you’re still looking for some last minute gift ideas or crafts I found a few quick candle projects. Most moms love candles so you can’t really go wrong although my mother might not know where the heck to put more.

tin canThings are warming up so outdoor lanterns are a fun option. We always have tin cans kicking around and big coffee cans would be perfect for creating big sturdy lanterns.

You could put a row of them out with citrus candles inside and fight off the bugs at the same time. At CraftBits there are easy instructions for tin can lanterns. If you don’t have a pin hammer handy, a regular hammer will do.

Baby food jarDLTK has an adorable candle holder project made out of a baby food jar. Kids could decoupage just about anything from paper or tissue onto it and have fun personalizing the candle holder by finding pics of her favorite things.

Better Homes and Gardens have several Mother’s Day craft ideas for creating personalized gifts for moms. I love the mugs with handprints and the decorated flowerpot that could double as candle holders.

If your mom is into oil or tart burners, Jane Lake gives us detailed instructions on how to make your own scented candle melts or tarts at All Free Crafts. It’s a great way to use up old wax and you can include a couple of your mom’s favorite scents.

Have some more ideas? Tell us about them!

Have you read?

Learn a Flower Bobble Technique to Knit a Fun Shawl

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier. 

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project. 

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible. 

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge. 

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects. 

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy. 

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project. 

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Xandy Peters]