Spring Candle Centerpiece

Well, it's time to show what I made for Living with Lindsay's 2nd Annual $5 Dollar Challenge.  I was really excited about this when I first heard about it and I was anxious to get to the dollar store and get started.  However, once I got there my brain just couldn't think of anything I wanted to make.  'Wanted to make' being the necessary component because whatever I made I wanted to like and keep it.  Two more trips to the Dollar Tree and the same problem kept occuring.  Finally some acceptable ideas started to germinate and this is what I came up with. 

First I bougt a glass bowl and candles in the candle section, some curly ribbon in the giftwrap section and some cards in the...yep, you guessed it, the card section.  So all-in-all this project ended up costing only $4. 

First I measured everything because I needed to know how big to cut my cards so they would fit and still have space in between each one to let more light shine through.

Buying these in a package of four made this project possible.  Otherwise I would have gone over budget if I had had to buy them separately.

Then I cut out the card portions that I wanted.

Then I measured the center point on each side, marked it and punched holes.  I used the first one I completed as a template for the others.

Next I cut out the center of the heart with an Xacto knife.  I use a glass cutting board because it seems to make the blade cut more smoothly. 

Originally I had planned to only cut out the heart, but then I decided it needed a little more so I cut out parts of the top.

Now I was thinking it looked pretty good, but wait.  What about the wings?

Love it, love it, love it!

Now that my hands and fingers were worn out from cutting all that out, it was time for tying it all together.  I had measured earlier so I knew about how far apart each piece needed to be.  In the end I only had to do a little finessing to get the spacing just right. 

I used this crazy curly ribbon that I wasn't sure would work out, but I think it fits the final product perfectly.

(I took this photo after I had already cut off my four pieces.) 

I just tied a regular bow and let the curls do their thing. 

I tied them all together in a row.

Then I tied them onto the bowl.

Then I added candles (I ended up using tea lights) and lit them.

Here's the daytime photo:

(Oooh, I love how the light peeks behind the wings.)

And now my favorite...night time:

Oooh...Aaah...

Seeing the finished product makes me wish I had put it on a little pedestal candle holder and glued them together for added height.  Perhaps I will do that later.  I also might add a little glitter to the flowers on the wreath.  We'll see.

I think this fits well for Spring, but it would also do well for a wedding. 

From start to finish it took me about 1 1/2 hours to make.  Of course I was figuring everything out and taking photos with my left hand (incredibly difficult) so I'm sure it could be done in less time.

It was fun.  Thanks Lindsay.  I'll be looking forward to next year. 

Also, in all that time of thinking about what to do, between trips to the Dollar Tree,  I came up with three other ideas that I'm going to be working on.  If you liked this one, maybe you'll check back later to see what they are.