Tutorial: Candle Holder Vellum Heart Decoration

Here is a tutorial to decorate any glass candle holder with paper! A great, inexpensive way to create candle holders to fit any occasion. This design is a simple, elegant Valentine theme, using vellum and cut paper.  

Materials:
1. Paper. I used white vellum, red vellum, and black paper. The translucent vellum is what diffuses the light and creates a nice glow. Black or dark paper will give you a nice crisp silhouette against the light, a light colored or thinner paper will give you a more muted look.
2. Clear Glass candle holder.
3. X-acto knife with #11 blades, or small scissors.
4. Self-healing mat or cardboard to cut on.
5. Ruler for cutting straight lines.
6. Double sided tape or glue.
7. Votive candle or battery operated tea light.

You can refer to my tutorial for Cut Paper Silhouettes for ideas on finding a design and transferring it to paper: Paper Cutting Tutorial   Measure the height of your candle holder, and cut a strip of vellum to wrap all the way around it. Size your design to fit within this space. My heart design has the main heart image in front, and swirls that partially wrap around the side. You can choose a design or pattern that wraps all the way around also.   Transfer your design onto the paper. Cut the design out with your x-acto knife, on your self-healing mat. Make slow, small cuts, and make sure your blade is sharp.  

  Once your main design is cut out, you can add other colors. I added red to the center of the heart by tracing the space cut out of the heart onto red vellum. Make the shape slightly larger than the opening you are tracing so that it will overlap. Then I cut out the red vellum heart, and attached it to the back of the black paper. Vellum is harder to cut shapes out of, it helps if you hold the paper down close to where you are cutting so it doesn’t tear. You can also try small scissors.   Attach the colored vellum to the back of the paper with double-sided tape or small amounts of glue. Attach the whole design to the long strip of vellum with double-sided tape or glue. Tape is better than most glue because it will be a little more flexible when you bend it around the glass. You can also use a spray adhesive. Wrap the vellum around the candle holder and secure at the back with tape. Light a candle inside, turn down the lights, and enjoy! You can use a regular candle with this since the paper is on the outside, just make sure the paper doesn’t go higher than the glass, and never leave a burning candle unattended.  

  Extra Tip: To remove wax from a used glass candle holder, use boiling water. Make sure the glass is not too cold to start with (or it could crack), place it in an aluminum pie plate to catch any water or wax, and fill the glass with the boiling water. Let it sit for a while and the wax will melt and float to the surface. Pour some boiling water down the outside also to melt it away.

Arwen ~ Arwen Designs