Feathered Votive Holders

I dressed up these simple glass votive holders with a variety of feathers, a hot glue gun, & a strip of ribbon around the bottom... 

Trim the feathers to fit the glass votive holder (at the bottom of the feather).  Run a thin strip of hot glue up the center of each feather, press feather to glass & hold until secure.  I continued this all the way around, then finished it off with a strip of ribbon along the bottom - hot-glued at each end of the ribbon.

Avoid excessive glue, as it will show through when lit with a candle.

Mini Cactus & Stone Garden

I'm just going to start off by saying that this project wasn't as simple as I thought:  

To plant these things, you have to touch them... 

After several attempts bare-handed, I used my coated fillet gloves (made for fishing) to plant & it seemed to help, but I still ended up picking spines out of my hands when the job was finished.  

Using a small bag of cactus/succulent potting soil mix, I planted a variety of cacti & succulents in an old galvanized trough feeder.  I topped off the soil with gold decorative rocks & scattered various other stones & brooches throughout.  It was worth every prick.  

 

   

Desert Dreamin'

Tiny cactus, teacup & saucer, feathers, & gold stones... A pretty little something to add to my mini desert - I'll share soon! Stay tuned.

Rustic Feather Arrangements

What you'll need for this easy arrangement:

A container (*I used a small wood window box)  

Assorted feathers (Most of these are from a craft store, the pheasant feathers are fresh from the game farm.)

Green floral foam (enough to fill the container to about 1/2" to 1" from the top)

& Any type of dried moss

Simple steps:

Place your floral foam in the container  (to about 1/2" to 1" from the top)

Add dried moss to the top of the foam, filling the container completely

Insert the feathers into the floral foam starting with the longest feathers, working out from the center. 

*If you're using an unfinished window box or a wood crate:

I used a Minwax Wood Finishing Cloth in Dark Mahogany to get this rich, warm tone, -  I then (after the stain was dry) applied the Minwax Express Clear protective finish in Low Gloss.  Minwax made these steps very fast & easy!

 

& small accent arrangements: