Painted Heart Tea Light Holders

I am in love with these sweet painted heart tea light holders we made. This was a fun collaborative effort with K and I, and not only did it give us a fun little mommy and son time together, but we now have a gorgeous new tea light holder that also functions as beautiful Valentine’s Day decor. We’ll definitely be making more of these to give to the grandmas as gifts. They are simple to make, too!

Materials:

Air dry clay
Heart Shape Cookie or Shape Cutter – make sure it is large enough to fit a tea light candle with extra room around. We used the largest cutter from our heart cutter nesting set
Paint and Paintbrushes (we used watercolour paints in red and purple)
Gloss Sealer – we used this one and I love it

Directions:

First, roll out your clay. You want it to be fairly thick (about 1 1/2-2 inches) as you need to fit a tea light holder in there with extra room on the bottom.
Take your shape and cut out your large heart

Next, take your tea light and push down to make a good indent in the center of the clay. Then, using a small, sharp knife with a fine point (an exacto blade would also do), cut out the candle hole. Scrap away at the bottom as well, using the tea light to push it back down flat. Make sure you are able to fit the candle so that it comes about flush with the top of the heart, and with a bit of extra room all around the candle.
Wet your finger with water to smooth out any imperfections. Don’t worry too much about this part though, as you’ll be painting it.

Make sure the tea light fits well and pat down inside to smooth out.

Let completely dry – about 48 hours – before doing any painting
It’s painting time! This was our favourite part. We used red and purple watercolours and K had so much fun painting and mixing the colours. I just love the marbled tie-dyed effect it had.

Let the paint dry and seal with a gloss finish. We love the Martha Stewart gloss finish.
Let dry completely, put your candle in and admire your handiwork:)