UPCYCLING OLD CRAP, awesome!

Hi everyone!

If you are anything like me, I am a sucker for Bath & Body Works, so much that I even made the mistake of working there for a couple of months, (eww, never again).  What is it about lotion, body spray, soaps, and candles?  Why does buying from this over-priced store make me so freaking happy?  I'll admit that my inner cheap-stake waits for the semi-annual sales, saves all the gift cards I have received from Christmas/my birthday, and STILL shops at the outlet store rather than the regular store.  I like to wait until I get the ULTIMATE DEAL, but even then, at the end of the day, its freaking lotion! When did it get so complicated?

ANYWAY, I am obsessed with candles from Bath & Body Works.  Regular price for one of these babies is $20.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT. THE. HELL???????? There is so much more I'd rather do with twenty dollars! I found a pin on Pinterest that caught my attention the other day and it showed how to upcylce a Bath & Body Works candle.  I immediately fell in love with the idea and decided that I must try it for myself.

This was the pin I found:

http://www.terryannstreasures.com/2012/10/upcycled-candles.html

For this project you will need:

• An empty glass candle container
• A freezer
• A dull knife
• Soap and water
• A sponge
• A glue gun
• Anything you want to decorate the top of your candle, (beads, yarn, fabric, etc.)

I started with a candle that looked like this:

Obviously it still had a little bit of wax so I had to take care of that.  Try to burn the candle until it can't burn anymore and get rid of the remaining wax.  After it has dried up again, stick it in the freezer overnight. 

When you take it out it should look like this:

 Grab a dull knife and start stabbing the wax and scraping it off. Don't forget to remove the wicks. It shouldn't be too hard to remove the wax once it is frozen.  

After this step, get your glass jar under warm water and use the soap and sponge to remove the remaining wax.  You should also remove the label and scrub that too to remove any residue. 

Your empty jar should look beautiful, like THIS:

Now, grab the lid that came with the candle and any of the decorations you chose to use to decorate the top of the candle.  I had a couple of random beads and broken necklace pieces laying around.

I started glueing the beads and heart on top of the lid until I was satisfied with how it looked.

In the end I decided I wanted to use this cute jar for Q-tips. This is how it looked displayed in my bathroom.

I thought this project was so cute and useful because I usually just throw away those candles once I am done with them. I hope you guys enjoyed this up-cycled DIY project.  I definitely loved the finished product and can't wait to make more of these. 

-Gabby