Jack Jumped Over the Candlestick(s)

My latest obsession is candlesticks! Or pillar holders...or candle holders...whatever you choose to call them.

I want a whole bunch of big ones, various sizes and shapes, painted black, in the middle of my kitchen table.  I can remember not so long ago, there were always candle holders to be found at the thrift stores (you know...when I never had a desire to buy them).  

Now....not so much!  

Why is there a sudden rush on cheap, ugly, fairly large candlesticks?

I blame Pottery Barn!  ;)

Image

I mean, why pay $19-$49 from them to get this look, when you can paint old ones for next to nothing!

But....it's hindering MY ability to get candle holders cheaply.....and really, that's all that matters. ;)

And to buy new ones....WOWZERS!  They are a minimum of $10 a pop!  A little steep for me, especially considering how many I dream of owning. :)  

But ever so slowly, I am adding to my collection...$2 to $3 at a time.

The uglier the better.  I just hit them with some Valspar black spray paint and voila...I have various sized and shaped candle holders of my liking.

I have distressed one with some Rub N Buff, but mostly I just kept them solid black.

Sidenote...Speaking of Valspar spray paint.  It is not usually my first choice when it comes to spray paint.  But have you seen their new spray nozzles??  FABULOUS!!!

Other problem?  I get so torn!!!  Do I keep them all just for me??  Or do I take some to the booth?  :(  You know, I WANT to keep them all.  BUT...I also love my booth "followers" and want to share my new obsession.  

Oh, the life of a collector (and seller)! ;)

So, what did I do?

I kept three and took one of course. LOL  I think I'm comfortable with that ratio.  Now, if I can only find more. 

I also have been making some decorative candles.

I didn't take pictures, but that's ok.  It's so easy you don't need pictures.

I got this idea from my dear friend, Carol, at The Polka Dot Cottage.  She gives a wonderful tutorial, with pictures, here.

Basically, you stamp an image onto white tissue paper and then hair dry it onto the candle with wax paper.  Seriously, the hardest part is holding the image and tissue paper tight with an oven mit on (that hair dryer gets hot!).

  

It's hard to see, but this ones says, "See God in ever person, place, thing, and all will be well in your world." - Louise Hay.

The large floral one is a flameless candle.  Unfortunately, it did not get adhered good enough and came off.  But I'm not done trying to get this effect with a flameless candle.  I'll keep you posted on my success.

I DID however share these candles with my booth lovelies. :)  They just need to find their own candlesticks.  LOL  

Oh come on....THAT was funny. :P

And for complete randomness, here a couple other things I've put my touch on and took to the booth yesterday.

Excuse my disgusting carpet.  Note to self...probably not the best spot for photo ops. 

This shelf was a plastic gold scrolly shelf turned that I turned into this lovely with a whole lot of black, white, and gray paint.  

I must confess, I also did not want to give this up.  Having a booth is tough...I'm stingy. ;)

Someday I'm going to get around to showing you my new/old dining room chairs.  But this is the fabric that I used to upholster the seats.  I ADORE this fabric and want to use it everywhere!   But I do realize that might be slight over kill.  

My Gma Pat gave me a bunch of frames at Christmas she no longer wanted, so this was one that I painted and distressed and added my new favorite fabric too.  Wouldn't this be great in a gallery wall!  I may or may not have wanted to keep it to put on MY gallery wall I'm planning for the living room.  

I'm seeing a very ugly theme here...what about you?  ;)