Select Page
Birch Candlesticks and New Friendships

Birch Candlesticks and New Friendships

by | Dec 14, 2015 | Life

This time of year is busy. Busy for everyone.

Finding extra time to do anything is almost out of the question. In addition to taking care of our families every day needs, we are all running around buying the perfect Christmas gifts, wrapping said gifts, sending Christmas cards, decorating our homes, menu planning for guests, and working. Can’t forget about going to work. 🙂

I find myself in the same holiday busy theme as everyone else.  The birch candle holders are selling so well, that I was running low on good, dry branches. So when I needed to actually purchase some birch branches, I turned to a local Craigslist ad.

Laura was the person behind the ad and she lived about 5 miles from me. Perfect. I can just zip over to her house, grab some new branches and get back to work filling orders.

But Laura had other plans.

When I arrived at her house, she was outside doing the evening chores of feeding all of her rescue animals.

In my mind rescue animals are dogs and cats, maybe a horse, possibly an old goat.

Laura had the rescue dogs but she also had this beauty.

This is Thanks. No joke and better yet, Thanks used to have a female mate named Giving, but she passed away last winter prior to Laura taking in Thanks. Sad. What is a Thanks turkey without a Giving mate? 🙂

Thanks is a Royal Palm Turkey and is a very endangered breed. Laura had to promise that Thanks wouldn’t end up on her table before she was allowed to take him in.

As I mentioned, I was in a bit of a rush. Laura had also come from a full days work but asked if I wanted to take a little walk on a path around her six acre property. Thanks would come along.

My initial thought was, No, but thank you for asking.

And then I thought, how many more opportunities will I ever have, to go and walk with a turkey. ( I did actually think that.)

Laura and I started to chat and walk and Thanks followed.

He followed us on the path as we walked past her pond and beautiful birch trees,

He followed us as Laura showed me where she had planted her garden and where  she was working on a green house made from her collection of free doors and windows.

Everything was so rustic and eclectic. And yet somehow natural and calming at the same time.

When the three of us finished our little walking path tour we ended at the dilapidated barn where she stored all of her birch.

I was not allowed to walk past the Moosehead doorway because the barn was severely leaning and was only being supported by scaffolding on the left hand side.

If that barn could tell stories. I can only imagine.

After risking her life to retrieve 5 long branches, we carried and loaded them into the truck. For someone who was soooo busy, me, I spent another hour talking to Laura about….well almost everything.

What started out to be a quick run to get some supplies turned in to a relaxing, out of the ordinary routine and the start of a new friendship with Laura and Thanks.

Happy Monday All. See you Wednesday,

Wendy

 

 

DIY Rustic Candleholders, Etsy and Glorious Weekend Weather

DIY Rustic Candleholders, Etsy and Glorious Weekend Weather

by | Oct 12, 2015 | DIY, Life

Wow! Wow and Wow!

Good things come in threes.

And this weekend was the jackpot of 3’s.

The first WOW started on Friday night when my Etsy shop stats went crazy! Crazy in a good way. So crazy good that Etsy contacted me that they had noticed a significant spike of views because of a product I have listed.

People were looking at this listing.

These rustic birch candle holders are made by me.  People have used them as wedding décor, to make arrangements in their non functioning fireplaces and seasonal décor on shelves and mantels.

This glorious increase in views means that more logs needed to be cut.

This is where my second WOW comes in. My husband Wade and I worked together and accomplished cutting up more logs. Typically we don’t work well together. (Two Type A’s). But we rocked it!

Then I realized that I have never shared how to make these.

So here is the DIY to make these rustic candle holders.

Here’s a supply list:

  • Tree branches
  • Chain saw
  • Chop saw
  • Drill press
  • Tea lights

First, collect various widths of tree branches.

As I have shared previously, my neighbor brought these over from the tree farm where he works. I selected birch and oak branches that were between 2 and 6 inches wide.

The smaller branches I cut with my chop saw. The larger branches I needed a chain saw to cut them. I have no experience with a chain saw and this was not a weekend I wanted to learn. 🙂  That is where Wade comes in. I think I have introduced my husband before, but if not, this is Wade. Wade this is everyone.

Working together we measured and cut 2,4,6 and 8 inch sections. Okay who am I kidding, I measured, he cut. But just like the chainsaw, we were a well oiled machine.

After cutting the various sized sections, each piece then had a 1.5 inch circle drilled down into it for a tea light to be placed.

It’s that easy. Cut, drill and place a candle on top.

These candle holders are not treated or stained. They are a simple and natural way to decorate your home.

Oh and for the third Wow, it was the weather. To say it was perfect would be an understatement. The opening picture is from our afternoon fishing trip on the lake. Warm breeze, 75 sunny degrees and good fishing.

Wow!

Now go and collect some tree branches and get creative. 🙂

I hope you’ll stop by on Wednesday!