Me and houseplants have a love hate relationship, I love them but they hate me…and the way I look after them. Some days we get on and others we don’t. Some hate me so much they die within days of being in my home, and others string it out for awhile before finally saying goodbye to this world and complete a full circle in my compost bin, giving life to my outdoor plants…who do love me. When we had a miscarriage several people gave us houseplants as some sort of ‘sorry for your loss’ gift. Cruel it was, cruel. Every single one of them died within a month and the grief was very real.
Anyway!
It is a houseplant that gave me inspiration for this crafty piece, my String of Hearts needed a hair cut and so rather than throw the trimmings away I had a go at a craft I’ve long been meaning to try, and as it turns out, their heart shaped leaves are wonderfully seasonal as we approach Valentine’s day. So grab a heavy book, some lovely leaves, and let’s make a candle holder to set the mood this year.
Making it
What you will need:
- See through container, glass preferably especially if you’re going to put a flame in there!
- White tissue paper cut into squares
- PVA glue
- Water
- Leaves
- A heavy book
- Two pieces of paper
- A tea light
Method:
First place your selected leaves (or flowers/petals if that’s the route you’re going down) in-between some paper and put a really super heavy book or similar on top of it. It doesn’t have to be special paper, I used scrap paper because, well, why not. And it doesn’t have to be a book, it just needs to be heavy and doesn’t mind sitting on the leaves for at least 20 minutes. The longer you leave it the better. I left mine over night because I could and also because I forgot about them!
When you’re ready to properly begin, mix one part PVA glue with one part water until you’ve got a paste.
Using a brush paste a round of tissue paper squares around the outside of what ever you’ve chosen to use as your tea light holder, get it nice and covered, but don’t worry about gaps etc at this stage because there will be a round two.
Once you’ve covered the holder select your leaves and place them on top of the tissue paper layer, covering it with a fresh piece of tissue paper and pasting it on. Repeat until you’re happy with your pattern and coverage.
Then let it dry. I left mine in a sunny window and it was dry within an hour.
Once it’s candle time place a tea light into your holder, light it, and watch the beautiful light shine through your frosted holder showcasing those beautifully pressed leaves.
You can see the how to video on Instagram:
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