Weddingbee

In the same vein as Miss Ladybug’s recent WB post, I wanted pretty votives, but did not want to part with too much $$. So I decided to tackle my first big wedding related DIY project.

I present to you… my votives! (just a few of them)

I bought 144 plain clear votives off eBay for about $75, including shipping, although I see the prices have gone up recently.

(pic from seller)

Then I used a plain piece of paper, wrapped it around the votive, and traced the outlines of the top and bottom. I cut the paper, and trimmed it so it fit the votive just right, and then traced it onto a piece of cardstock to create a template. What was a bit tricky was that the glass is not straight up and down, it tapers at the bottom. So it’s important to get the correct shape (see how the template is slightly rounded at the top and bottom?)

I traced the template in pencil onto the vellum I bought at Paperandmore, and I was able to fit 4 per page. (sorry, I forgot to take pix of every step, but I hope you get the idea).

Then I stamped up a storm! It required a bit of strategy to fit as many images on the space as possible. Also, I stamped on the opposite side of the pencil lines, so the lines wouldn’t show when I cut and wrapped.

The Paris stamps are from Anthropologie (but you can buy them here) and the medium sized peony stamp is from Stampworx2000.

Through trial and error, I found out that Brilliance ink works best for stamping on vellum. It requires very little drying time, and there was virtually no smudging. Versacolor also worked, but I had to let it dry overnight. Be sure to ink the heck outta the stamp, and then REALLY press it onto the page!

I cut the vellum according to the lines I had drawn, and carefully stuck double sided tape along each short edge of the vellum. Then I wrapped the votives and made sure that the tape held firmly onto the glass. Positioning the wrap just right required some practice, but by votive number 30 or so, I was a pro!

Here are closeups of the finished products (I like the peony ones better, but whatever!). I would have taken a picture of one of them lit up, except I couldn’t find a match! Oh yea, I also trimmed the wick on each candle to approximately 1/4 inch, as I’ve heard recommended.

Honestly, this took A LOT of time, as in 15+ hours over the course of the past 3 weeks (I would NOT recommend doing this right before your wedding! I still have 6 months…). But luckily I had a lot of free time recently, and it kept my hands busy during episodes of American Idol/Grey’s Anatomy/CSI, etc. I have to say that I really enjoyed it, and am proud of the finished product!

What DIY projects are you planning to tackle?