Since summer is here I thought I'd share this little gem of a project! Initially I made these for our wedding day: they decorated the tables, hung from the trees. and gave a beautiful atmospheric, ambient glow. But now I use them in the house, in the garden, on camping trips, on cottage holidays and at seasonal celebrations! They are so easy to make and you can use them time and time again all year round ...

Recycled glass jars

These are simply old jam jars, pasta sauce jars and the pretty little one with shells embossed on the side was a 'cockles' jar. Keep you're eye out in the supermarkets as you can get some lovely shapes & designs 

Bendy thin wire 

You don't want your wire to be too thin or too thick, just make sure it is easy to manipulate and is strong enough to keep it's shape. The first lot I bought was so stiff it almost broke my hands!

Lace, hessian and ribbon to decorate

You can be as individual as you like with your decoration. I love the effect of hessian on lace, decorated with a pastel ribbon but you can decorate them to suit your own taste.

Pliers & glue

The pliers will secure the wire, and the glue will secure the lace. Just make sure the glue is suitable for use on glass. 

1. Simply begin by cutting a very long length of the wire. Fold it in half and twist along the whole length as seen in diagram 1. (I apologise in advance for my drawing skills ...)

2. Hold one end of the wire to the rim of the glass and wrap the rest around once and twist to secure with the with pliers. See diagram 2. Make sure it's a little loose around the rim though (you'll see why in a minute).... 

3. Once secured make a long loop (which will form the handle) and push through the end through the gap in the rim on the other side (see the arrows below in diagram 3) once pushed through cut an excess wire off and bend it up on itself twist to secure. Note: You'll need quite a big handle so the flame from the candle doesn't make it too hot!

4. Once your handle is in place now comes the fun part - decorate! I like my candles rough and ready, and I decorated them individually. I simply cut my lace to size and glued it to the jar, then I'd wrap a ribbon of hessian around it, followed by ribbon. Some of the jars simply wanted a ribbon. Just have fun with it and adapt it to suit your own style, 

Here are my little candles being used on a recent camping trip - I told you they give a cosy glow :-)

JM x