My First DIY

(I've been a bad blogger and haven't posted ALL of break... Hey, I didn't have a computer for the first part, then I was sick.  So I'm allowed to post twice in one night to make up for it... Right?)

I've known all along that I want to do as many DIY (do-it-yourself) projects as I could to save myself some money.

You know my love of stars, so when I came across these, I seriously considered buying them.  However, I couldn't justify spending some $2 (plus shipping) on EACH candle.  Especially since I'd probably need around 50.  And call me anal, but I really don't like the "starfish" shape.  I like the perfect star that is neat, even, and comes to points instead of blob-like curves.

The vision for this project came from a co-worker's (Sarah's) wedding last summer.  I absolutely LOVED the dark tablecloths with the bright pink candles!

(picture from Sarah's blog) Isn't that just GORGEOUS?!?

 I don't know how I ever thought of doing this, but all the sudden I realized I wanted my star-shaped tea light holders (remember?) to be pink instead of clear.  So while watching one of the many bowl games over break, I decided to take the pink Saran Wrap I had and cover them.  Then instead of a candle holder, maybe I could flip it over and put one of those battery-operated lights inside.  I love the idea of a black tablecloth with some glowing pink stars underneath!  The lights were a little too bright white, so I used some pink nail polish to take the edge off of the light (I need a few more coats, I think).  It's not perfect, but this picture gets the idea across:

I had to heat up the saran wrap so it would form to the star shape.  I held it over a candle, then pressed the plastic wrap to the star.  Apparently I didn't do a good enough job.  Jason tried to help while I was out of the room and ended up burning it a little on the back side.  Oops!

But neither of us really liked how uneven and wrinkly the plastic wrap was.  Then Jason had an idea.  Do you remember those Sun Catchers you used to make as a kid?  You know... those things your mom used to buy for you over summer and/or winter break to keep you busy and out of trouble?  You got a clear plastic shape that had the black outlines and you just simply painted in the sections to make it translucent (instead of opaque like most paints would do).

Well, what if we painted all of the stars?  Turns out they make a spray paint for stained glass.  Sadly enough, Michael's only had it in red and blue (no pink).  So I guess I'll just need to order some online and wait for a nice spring day (since you're supposed to spray paint outside when it's between 65 and 95 degrees).

Ugh... I hate waiting.  Oh well.  Onto my next project!