Easter Table

Hi all,
I saw this post and knew that I wanted to do something similar for my Easter table.  I wanted the candles elevated so I went and got a scrap 4x4 from Home Depot.  I think that it was about $2.  I measured it and it was exactly 2 feet long. 

So I cut it in half and then cut one of the halves in half.  So I had 1 1ft piece and 2 6 inch pieces. 
Gi was kind enough enough to document it for me.

She thinks that we need to have constant pictures of craft projects now.  I have no idea where she go that from.
I used my palm sander to level the ends a little so that they weren't wobbly on the table.  Then I sanded them a little more just so that there was no way that anyone could get splinters.  Then i threw them down onto the concrete driveway and beat them up with both sides of the hammer so that they had a weathered look.  The kids thought I had lost it and tool off lest I should start chucking the pieces at them. 
I like how they looked but I wanted to add a little something more, so this morning, I took out my steel stamps and stamped John 3:16 on the tallest one.  Then I colored the stamped letters with a black sharpie, which of course, bled.  I expected this though, so I didn't freak out.  Back outside, I used a superfine sandpaper on my sander and went over the letters.  Since the letters are recessed, the sander took off all the excess ink and the pencil lines and letters that I had drawn on to guide me. 

Then I arranged them on my cluttered counter and put 2 red candles on the small blocks and a white candle on the taller one and then put yesterday's crown of thorns around the candle.

Here they are lit, but at 11am, the effect is less than spectacular.  I think that I will take them outside to distress them more, and maybe rub some mineral oil in to darken them up a little, so they don't look so new.  
I think that they will look great on my natural wood table for Easter dinner and remind us all the Real Reason for the Season.

Thorn Crown tutorial

Hi All,
 It is spray paint weather 'round these parts.  LOVE IT!!!  It has been a little windy so I have been doing it in the garage with the door open.  I have no less than 4 projects in different stages of drying. 

I host Easter dinner for my Mom's Family every year.  I love it.  I was looking through blogland a while ago and I saw a candle arrangement that I loved.  I will be posting my version of the completed thing tomorrow, but I needed something to make a crown of thorns.  The original used a small grapevine wreath, but I couldn't find one that looked right, so I thought about how to make my own. 

These are the tools that I used:
20 gauge wire  1.99
16 gauge wire 1.99
needle nose pliers
wire cutters
small coffee can


I took the 16 gauge wire (the fatter one)  and wrapped it around the coffee can about 3 times to create the size that I wanted and to give it a shape. 
Then I cut the wire with the wire cutters.

Then cut several 2-3 inch lengths of the thinner wire.  Keeping a tail out, wrap the wire several times around a section of the "wreath" that you made with the large wire.

I then used the needle nosed pliers to squeeze the wrapped wire together so that each wrap was touching the next, and to flatten it slightly so that it didn't slide around in case I didn't wrap it tight enough.

I continued around the wreath until it looked the way that I wanted.  I was going to a kind of a barbed wire look.


Then I took it outside and spray painted it with Dark bronze.


It looks just the way that I wanted it to,  Plus it only cost about $4 to make and I have tons of wire left over for other projects as each package came in 25ft spools.

Have a great day all!!