N.C.M #13, #14, and #15 - Household Goodies

I've never really focused on making things for my house before, but lately I feel this need to create things for the house and fix it up a bit. Not huge projects, but things to make it feel more like home.

#13 - Candle Holders

I love candles. The smells, the light, the calming effect they have. And dear hubby bought me some candles for Valentine's day last year that I never used. So I broke them out only to find that I don't have a lot of candle holders. So I broke out the computer and did some searching and found an idea for using old non-functioning CDs! But I didn't want plain flat ones, I wanted to have them curved like a bowl. After some more searching I found that you can put them in the oven to make them pliable. And this is the result.

I'm really happy with how they turned out! I didn't expect the rainbow effect, but it's so pretty! To make these, it's really simple. You need a pair of heat resistant gloves, CDs or DVDs that don't work and an oven. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and put a CD in for 2-3 minutes. Test to see when the CD is pliable. Once it is, quickly and wearing your gloves bend up the edges. It starts to harden very quickly, so you want to be quick about it. I did them one at a time because of this. That's it. ***Disclaimer: You do this at your own risk! I am not responsible for anything that may happen!*** It does start to smell, so if possible have your windows open. I probably won't make anymore until it's warm enough to open windows to let it vent. :)

#14 - Coasters

I'm a huge tea drinker and unfortunately I've started to notice some rings on the table. Oops. Coasters are in order! My kitchen colors are light pink, cream, and green (because those are the colors of the dishes I have from my beloved Mama). I looked through my fabric scraps and found some that would match the colors and theme very nicely.

Umm... Yeah, that coaster really is square, it's just the angle of the picture that makes it look weird. ;) I like that they're reversible so they can be plain green when used with the dishes or pretty when alone. There's a layer of felt in the middle, so they're thin but effective.

#15 - Tea Wreath

As I said above, I'm a tea junkie and drink several cups a day. And it's a pain the neck to dig through the cupboard trying to find the boxes. I had seen this and thought it a clever way to make the bags more accessible. And let me tell you, it's amazing.

It's wonderful because I can grab a tea bag easily and only need to refill it about once a week. It took only an hour to make. To make this you need:

- a 12x12 piece of cardboard

- 20-24 clothespins

- glue 

- glue gun or superglue

- some scrapbooking paper

I glued a piece of paper to the 12x12 cardboard then traced a dinner plate to get the circle. I measured to create the smaller circle and cut it out. Then using a scrap piece of paper I cut strips of paper and glued them to the clothespins. I chose pink and cream since it's my kitchen colors. Then I used a glue gun to glue the clothes pins to the circle. Poke a hole in the top and slip a ribbon through. That's it! Really simple, but worth it for us tea addicts. :-D

I think my house is on it's way to feeling like home.