D.I.Y. Wood Wick Teacup Candles

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click on a link I will recieve a small comission. This costs you nothing extra and I only promote products I use and love! You can read our full disclosure here

There is nothing that adds a fun vintage flair to a shower quite like these teacup candles. And they are so versatile! I will be using them for a Beauty and the Beast themed bridal shower, but they could just as easily be used for a tea party, Jane Austen Shower, or Mother’s Day Brunch!

For me, the wood wicks were a requirement on this batch, they just remind me so much of a fire in the hearth, and for a Beauty and the Beast Shower, it is the perfect touch since most of the story takes place in the winter where crackling fires are most welcome! In addition, the teacups are the perfect ode to my favorite characters, Mrs. Potts and Chip!

I have wanted to make these candles for a while but was always discouraged for one reason, finding the teacups! While you can find teacups at yard sales and estate sales, I could rarely find them and when I could, they were $10+ per cup! Luckily, I had the thought to check Etsy for teacups and I was not disappointed! :)

I was very impressed with the Etsy shop, The Acerage, which I purchased my teacups from. First, they were half the price I see at estate sales for the same cups due to what they term “minor damage.” So when I received them I was expecting some stains, chips, or even small cracks. Imagine my surprise when all the cups that came not only were in great condition (I could hardly find any chips), but they were in fact much better than the aforementioned teacups I paid double for at the estate sale! I have linked in the supplies the set I used, which are great to make a whole set of candles for shower favors. When someone orders them, the listing will disappear but as soon as they gather the next set they list it again.

If giving the teacups as a favor is not quite in your budget, use them as bridal shower prizes and only make a couple! I have been using them for the last couple showers I have gone to as prizes for games and they have been beloved by all!

Supplies:  

Mismatched Teacups and Saucers
Wooden Candle Wicks
Candle Wax*
Candle Pouring Pot
Powdered Candle Dye
Essential Oils for Scent

*I used leftover candle stubs, but the wax linked here will make about 20 -8oz teacup candles

1.  Melt wax on low heat in your pot. If, like me, you are using candle stubs, remove the wicks from the old candles once the wax is completely melted using either tongs or a fork.

2. For these candles, the full wax wick is far too long. Insert the wood wick into its metal stand and place in the cup. Cut the wicks at the top of the teacup with a pair of scissors, then remove the candle wax from heat and soak them in the wax for 10 minutes. Soaking these wicks is VERY IMPORTANT, they are not like the standard wicks that are already coated in wax and not soaking them will lead to the candles not staying lit.

3. Once wicks have been soaked, remove them with tongs or a fork. Once they are cool enough to handle (I was able to touch them immediately) insert them into the metal holder stands included and let dry.

4. Now, attach the wicks to the bottom of your teacups by dipping the metal holder into the melted wax, then position at the bottom of the jar. 

5. Let the wax cool for a couple more minutes, then add color and fragrance of your choice. The ones I have recommended are great for candles, bath bombs, soaps, and bath salts, so you can get a lot of use out of them! I made pastel pink, purple, and yellow candles that were scented as peppermint-lemon, lavender-lemon, and rosemary-lemon (I know you can't tell that I like lemon).

6. Pour cooled (but still liquid) wax into the teacups. Reserve about 25% of your wax to remelt and top off your candles if a divot is created in the middle due to the wax cooling. The cooler the wax is, the less of a divot will form. Some of mine with the cool wax needed no additional wax to fill in, while the ones where I started with hot wax needed a lot of extra to make them look nice!

7. Once candles are cooled and solidified, remelt the excess wax and fill in any divots that were caused during the first pour. Now you have a lovely set of candles for your home or favors for your next party!

These have been by far one of my favorite DIY projects I have done lately and a project I have wanted to do for a long time! Now I just need to find homes for all the teacups I can’t keep, time for a tea party! :)

Bride Tribe Tumblers

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click on a link I will recieve a small comission. This costs you nothing extra and I only promote products I use and love! You can read our full disclosure here

If there is one thing I love making for Bridal Parties, it is Tumblers! They are so cute and so useful for getting ready gifts, bachelorette party favors, or even to ask your maids in the first place.

For these tumblers, I was looking for a free dream catcher file for a more unique “Bride Tribe” tumbler, but none of them were suiting my fancy. Then I found this amazing one on Etsy! For a couple bucks it was well worth the price! Better yet, its an SVG file which are super easy to import into the Cricut Craft Cutter software.

For these tumblers and many of the wedding and bridal projects you will see on this blog, having a Cricut is required. I can’t say enough good things about mine, I wish I had had it when I was crafting for my own wedding! It would have saved me hours of work and many of the projects I did would have turned out even better! If you are a crafter, a bride, or even part of the bridal party I would highly recommend one, the one-time purchase will serve you well. :) Not only can you make tumblers like these, but you can also use it for custom cut invitations, iron on clothing, paper crafts, and removable vinyl wall decorations. I could go on and on but needless to say they are awesome!

Supplies:

Gold Adhesive Vinyl
Metallic Teal Adhesive Vinyl
Transfer Paper
Purple Tumblers
Craft Cutter and Tool Set
Adhesive Mat
Dream Catcher File
Bride File
Bride Tribe File

1.     Download the Dream catcher File and import into the Cricut software. You can do this by going to the software; and, after making a new project, click the upload button. Import the file, the click Continue.

2.    Press save for the file to be uploaded to the software, then click the image under the Upload Tab. Select Insert Images" to insert it into the current project.

3.     Size the dream catcher to 3.25” wide, then remove the unneeded cuts. For this image, ungroup the cuts using the button on the upper right.

4.     Now, select each of the first 5 cuts and press the red "x" on the image to remove it.

5.     Once the excess cuts are removed, copy and paste the number of dream catchers you need then click the "Make it" Button in the upper right. You can get up to six dream catchers per 12” x 12” sheet of vinyl. Press Continue to got to the cut Screen. On the Cricut itself, set the dial to "Vinyl", load the mat with Gold Vinyl, and press the Cricut button to cut.

6.     Similarly, import the “Bride” and “Bride Tribe” pictures into the software, sizing them to be 2.5” tall. Cut these out in the Metallic Teal Vinyl.

7.     Remove the excess vinyl (known as weeding) until just the images and words you want to transfer are remaining.

8.     Cut away the excess backing around your vinyl designs. Fix them to the vinyl mat based on how you would like them to transfer onto the tumbler. As you can see from mine, I nested the “Bride Tribe” words into the bottom right of the Dream Catcher.

9.     Cover the design with transfer paper. Push out all the air bubbles and press it into the design, such that when you lift the transfer paper the design comes up with it without its backing. I prefer the lined transfer paper as it makes it easier to orient the designs on their final resting places.

10.     Starting at the top of the tumbler, line up and press the transfer paper onto the tumbler, working top left to bottom right. Because it is curved, it will not stay exactly parallel with the top, this is ok! Pres the transfer paper as flat as you can against the tumbler, rubbing the design especially to get out any air bubbles. Lift the transfer paper, leaving the design on the tumbler.

11.     For the Bride Tumbler, I wanted the letters to overlap the Dream Catcher. So the same steps as above are followed, but you first transfer the dream catcher, then the test as two separate transfers.

Using these basic instructions, you can also design whatever tumbler you like to make your own custom tumblers for you, your bride, or your wedding party (if you are the bride!).

D.I.Y. Wooden Wick Candles

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click on a link I will recieve a small comission. This costs you nothing extra and I only promote products I use and love! You can read our full disclosure here

These lovely crackling candles first came to be based on my own bridal shower. One of my friends won one as a prize and absolutely loved it! When it finally burned out a couple weeks ago, I went looking for a way to replace it as her birthday present. Luckily, I had the thought to check for the wooden wicks first!

I love these wooden wicks compared to the regular ones, where you can achieve the comfort of a crackling fire with a little candle. I didn’t realize it would be so easy to make them myself, or that amazon would have had such an assortment to choose from (last time I doubt that Amazon doesn't have everything under the sun).

Now, I have a wonderful assortment of these candles which were cheap to make and so nice to have! I would highly recommend making them if you have candle stubs at home; I used the ends of my wedding candles for them and was able to make a bunch of them in both leftover favor jars and teacups as prizes for upcoming showers and gifts for my friends! These also work wonderfully for Bridal Shower favors, Wedding Favors, or Baby Shower Favors!

Some things to note on this project: for your candle making supplies, you need a pouring pot or an old pot you don’t care about to melt the wax. I made the unfortunate choice of using one of my cooking pots with an old measuring cup and it took me a good couple hours to get all the wax remnants out. Seeing as I could’ve bought an actual candle pouring pot for a little over $10, it would’ve been a far better choice and I wouldn’t have been spilling wax all over the place!

Supplies:  
Wooden Candle Wicks
6 oz Jars with Lids
Candle Wax*
Candle Pouring Pot
Powdered Candle Dye
Essential Oils for Scent

*I used leftover candle stubs, but the wax linked here will make about 26 -6oz candles

1.  Melt wax on low heat in your pot. If, like me, you are using candle stubs, remove the wicks from the old candles once the wax is completely melted using either tongs or a fork.

2. For these candles, the full wax wick is far too long. Cut the wicks in half with a pair of scissors, then remove the candle wax from heat and soak them in the wax for 10 minutes. Soaking these wicks is VERY IMPORTANT, they are not like the standard wicks that are already coated in wax and not soaking them will lead to the candles not staying lit.

3. Once wicks have been soaked, remove them with tongs or a fork. Once they are cool enough to handle (I was able to touch them immediately) insert them into the metal holder stands included and let dry.

4. Now, attach the wicks to the bottom of your jars by dipping the metal holder into the melted wax, then position at the bottom of the jar. 

5. Let the wax cool for a couple more minutes, then add color and fragrance of your choice. The ones I have recommended are great for candles, bath bombs, soaps, and bath salts, so you can get a lot of use out of them! I made pastel pink, purple, and yellow candles that were scented as peppermint-lemon, lavender-lemon, and rosemary-lemon (I know you can't tell that I like lemon).

6. Pour cooled (but still liquid) was into the jars. Reserve about 25% of your wax to remelt and top off your candles if a divot is created in the middle due to the wax cooling. The cooler the wax is, the less of a divot will form. Some of mine with the cool wax needed no additional wax to fill in, while the ones where I started with hot wax needed a lot of extra to make them look nice!

7. Once candles are cooled and solidified, remelt the excess wax and fill in any divots that were caused during the first pour. Now you have a lovely set of candles for your home or favors for your next party!

The crackling of these candles makes me want to make a slew of them for a fall or winter wedding, just with different colors and scents. :) What would you make these cute little candles for?

Chocolate Dipped Cookie Spoons

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click on a link I will recieve a small comission. This costs you nothing extra and I only promote products I use and love! You can read our full disclosure here

These adorable cookie spoons are something that I was planning on doing for my wedding out of town guest bags; but I never got around to making them! They go perfect with a cup of cocoa and are a wonderful addition to a coffee bar. :) The best part is that they are quite cheap to make, 120 spoons for about $50 if you have to buy all the ingredients.

Supplies:
Spoon Shaped Cookie Cutter
2 – 10 oz White Candy Melts
2 – 10 oz Chocolate Candy Melts
Sugar Cookie Dough (Here is my recipe)

1.     Prepare the Sugar Cookie dough according to the recipe you plan to use. For the recipe I used, it will make around 120 spoons if you use all the dough. In general you want the dough to hold its shape and not flatten out, so try not to use the store bought stuff (If you do, add a little flour into the dough before rolling it out).

2.     Sprinkle flour on your work surface and roll the dough out to a little over ¼” and cut out spoons with the cookie cutter. Transfer to a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Try to have your cookies come out on the crispier side; that will help them keep their strength for being dipped into coffee.

3.     Once your cookies are cooled, melt the chocolate melts according to the package. Dip the end of each spoon into the chocolate then lay on parchment paper to cool. I put my candy melts in glasses so that it made dipping the cookies easier and made half of my cookies white and half dark chocolate.

4.     Once the chocolate has hardened, use a spoon to drizzle the extra chocolate over the spoons, and you’re done!

These cookies are easy to make into cheap favors by simply putting them in cellophane bags and are the perfect addition to a welcome bag for a winter wedding! Leave any questions you have in the comments!

DIY Personalized Wedding Matches

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click on a link I will recieve a small comission. This costs you nothing extra and I only promote products I use and love! You can read our full disclosure here

One of my favorite ideas that came into play with our wedding was the Cigar Bar I designed for my husband and his fraternity brothers. It gave the guys a fun "manly" thing to do during the wedding and everyone told us how much they liked it! Now for me, no cigar bar is complete without personalized matches, and no better time to personalize everything than for your wedding! As I searched, I couldn't seem to find anything quite right so I decided to design my own! It was surprisingly easy and I love the way they turned out!

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and choose to purchase, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect your price in any way and I only promote products I use and love! :)

Supplies:

Plain White Box Matches

Full Sheet Adhesive labels (I used Avery 5156)

Matches Template

1. Using the matchbook template, start by putting your own information into the text boxes. The font I used for our names and location is called Baroque Script, so if you want it to look exactly like these matches make sure to have the font downloaded beforehand!

2. Print out the matches and cut them out with scissors. Next, line up the top of the matchbook and the sticker. Make sure that the sandpaper strip is on the side that won't be covered by the sticker.

3. As shown above, adhere the sticker starting at the top, then smoothing around the entire matchbook. Below you see a finished matchbook.

This project really added a special touch to our big day and as you can see its quite easy to do! After the initial measuring and designing of the template it only took about two hours to cut and make 100 matchbooks! Stay tuned for more fun wedding crafts!

DIY Wine Charm Favors

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click on a link I will recieve a small comission. This costs you nothing extra and I only promote products I use and love! You can read our full disclosure here

To celebrate the hubs and I first year of marriage, I took a look back at all the DIY I did through the course of my wedding and selected some of the projects to feature here on Wine and Sprinkles! The first is our wedding favors, homemade wine charms. They are surprisingly easy to make and make a cute memorable, and transportable wedding favor!

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click one of the links and choose to purchase, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect your price in any way and I only promote products I use and love!

Supplies:
Assorted beads (I chose blue and silver)
Assorted Charms
Earring Wire Hoops
Jump Rings
Needle nose pliers
 

1.  First, attach the small jump rings to all of the charms you intend to use. In the pack I mentioned there are some that just don't look wine charm material, so order an extra pack. 

2. Using the needle nose pliers, flatten the wire on the hoop so that the beads and charms can easily slide on. Then slide on your beads and charms however you like. As you can see below I did silver, blue, charm, blue the silver for a nice symmetrical look.

3. Finally, re-bend the wire hoop's tip to its original position to look all the beads and charms in place.

And then you're done! We ended up pairing two to a favor box, but these could easily be made into sets of 4-8 to give away as Christmas presents or wine tasting favors as well. :) Now go get yourself a glass of wine to try out your new charms on!