Spruce Up Those Dollar Candles!

I’ve always loved these simple white candles in the glass jars that you can get at the dollar store or grocery store.  They’re used a lot for memorials or religious ceremonies but they can be pretty with a simple transformation in your own home as well. In fact last year I used these same candles and some rope to make some fall decor from the Dollar Store.  I like them so much that they’re actually still in my living room today. They went way past fall decor, which is great since I only spent a few dollars on them. So the last time I was at the grocery store I picked up a few more candles and a bag of what I thought were foam heart stickers.  I had planned to use the same technique from the Mason Jar Candle Votives to spruce up these candles for Valentines Day.  After I got home I discovered that they were just foam hearts, not stickers and I couldn’t really use them. So I had to come up with plan B – painters tape. These are just the dollar candles that are made trendy and cute with nothing but painters tape and spray paint from the garage. You can do it my friends.  The picture is pretty self explanatory. Start by taping off your designs with the painters tape and anywhere you don’t want painted such as the top of the votive and actual candle.  Do two light coats of spray paint. It will dry extremely fast. When dry to the touch, pull off the tape. If the paint is smearing, you might not have waited long enough for it to dry.  Any splotches out of place or smears can simply be scraped off.  After I made the red and white striped candle I decided to make one with hearts and a light pink spray paint.  I simply cut hearts out of the painters tape and placed them in a pattern.  Then I spray painted the candle and removed the tape when dry.  This one is actually harder to see how cute it is because the pink was too light. I should have used red.  But when there’s little girls behind you chanting, “pink! pink! pink!”, it’s hard not to pick up the pink. However I am very excited to see how the light glows through the hearts as the candle gets lower and lower.  And then immediately after I took this picture I knocked the candles over and wax went flying everywhere!  They don’t call me the Clumsy Crafter for nothing! These would be cute, inexpensive gifts for teachers or friends this valentines day! Check out the wax disaster on Instagram and then you can find this project with my other Valentines Day Crafts on Pinterest!