A few weeks ago, I pinned this adorable idea.

As soon as I saw it I was so excited to make some.  Over the past several years,the kids have given me cute little painted terra cotta pots with little flowers planted in them.  The flowers are long gone ( I really don’t have much of a green thumb despite what I’d like to believe to the contrary),  but I still have all these hand painted pots that I can’t bring myself to throw away.  So when I saw this project I immediately thought it would be a perfect way to use those Mother’s Day gift pots.

As soon as I had a chance, I went out to Michael’s to get some candle making supplies.  The wax (I used soy) was more expensive then I thought it would be but I used a 50% off coupon which made it feel much more affordable.  I spent a total of about $22 for supplies.

This was so super easy.  I think I made them in about 30 minutes.  I cleaned out the pots and let them dry while I went outside and got some sticks and set out the supplies.  I used the sticks to tie the wick to so it would hold it center in the pot.(for the larger pots, I used two wicks).

I put a penny in the bottom of each pot to cover the drainage hole as directed in the original pin.  I wasn’t sure this was really gonna work but I tried it anyway.  I used a 2 cup measuring cup and filled it all the way to the top with soy wax flakes, stuck it in the microwave for about 4 minutes until the wax was completely liquefied and then poured it into the pots. I also added several drops of vanilla scented oil to make them scented candles.  Because I wasn’t so sure about the penny doing it’s job of keeping the liquid wax from leaking out, I put the pots on parchment paper so I wouldn’t get wax all over my counter.

Sure enough,  some of the wax did leak out but not too badly and it didn’t take long for the wax to harden.  I think when I actually use these, I’ll need to keep them on their little terra cotta plates in case the wax melts through again. And next time I make these, I’ll find a better way to plug the drainage holes.

I love how these turned out.

They would make such cute and easy Christmas gifts for teachers or friends.  And when you think about how much a candle in the store costs,  making several of these for just $22 dollars is pretty cheap.  I only used about half the bag of wax flakes so I can still make plenty more.

Well, there you have it, another project done.  Time to move on to the next one.