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walnut shell beeswax candles 🕯️ It’s that t

walnut shell beeswax candles 🕯️ It’s that time of the year again! These candles float in water and will last anywhere from 10-30 minutes. They make magical little gifts. I’ll always be so fond of these because they remind me of Elliot’s littlest years and really sparked my love for beeswax candle making years ago when I started my blog back in 2018. I always love hearing too about how many of you remember things like this from your own childhood and that’s all I really hope for with my own kids.

Materials:
walnut shells, beeswax, cotton wick, metal pouring pitcher or heat-proof container to melt wax in (and something to place it on top of inside of the pot)

Instructions:
- Melt beeswax using the double-boiler method: Place your container inside of a larger pot (on top of something so that it does not sit directly on the bottom of the pot). Fill the larger pot with water
- Place the beeswax inside of the container, heat the water and simmer until your beeswax has liquified
- Cut a length of wick for each walnut shell and dip into melted wax, straighten and let cool
- Carefully pour the beeswax into each shell. Wax pouring temp should be around 160 °F
- Add the wick to each shell before it starts to set
- Fill a heat-safe bowl with water. Float your walnut shell candles in the water and light them!

Use + Safety:
Always trim candle wicks to approximately 1/8” before lightning. Supervise children and pets at all times. ALWAYS only light these candles floating in a bowl of water. DO NOT leave a burning candle unattended, once the beeswax melts down the shell can burn and potentially catch on fire.

#walorfinspired #naturecrafts #candlemaking #handmadecandles #beeswaxcandles #wintercrafts #wintersolstice #adventcandle #walnutcandles #walnutshellcandles #floatingcandle

This is your reminder that there are so many beaut

This is your reminder that there are so many beautiful ways that you can wrap gifts using reusable, recycled and low impact materials that you already have at home ✨ Furoshiki fabric gift wrap is my go to— I use simple fabric that I reuse every year within our household. When gifting to friends, I mention that they can reuse the fabric too as gift wrap or repurpose it for crafts. We also wrap gifts for others in recycled kraft paper, and when gifting to children we decorate the paper.

Elliot’s go-to when he wraps gifts for us over the past years has been pillowcases with handwritten labels. It’s my absolute favorite. If you’ve been following for a while you’ll know that this is something I’ve been passionate about since my earliest days and every year I’m asked how we can approach this with our children, particularly younger ones. My best advice is to just normalize these practices in your household— to nurture intentionality and to hold space for open conversations about what can be compromised on. Now at 8 years old, Elliot takes part in these customs happily on his own. He even tells me how beautiful he thinks the gift wrapping is every year when he opens his gifts and beams with pride when he gives me the gifts that he has wrapped himself using whatever we have at home.

favorite wrapping paper alternatives:
scrap fabric, play silks, tea towels, fabric bags, pillowcases, magazine or book pages and just plain kraft paper

favorite low waste gift toppers:
a fresh bunch of herbs from the garden (or mini herb wreaths!), seed packets, nature items (pinecones, seed pods, evergreen sprigs, dried orange or other citrus slices)

#handmadeholiday #lowwaste #diychristmas #lowwastechristmas #plasticfreechristmas #furoshiki #fabricgiftwrap #zerowastegift

mini rosemary herb wreaths 🌿 you can use any he

mini rosemary herb wreaths 🌿 you can use any herbs you have on hand— ones with longer stems work best or you can add multiple layers for length or fullness. I’m using freshly cut rosemary from our garden. If you don’t have a garden, your local farmer’s market is a great place to grab herbs with longer stems. Instructions and some of my recommendations for other great herbs to use are below.

Instructions:
- Gather your herbs. I’m using rosemary— other herbs I’ve used in the past that are ideal for this are thyme, and sage because they have woodier stems and make sturdier wreaths.
- Gently bend the stem into a circle
- Tie with a long piece of twine, so that you can use the pieces of twine to tie onto a gift
- Add a bow 🎀

#handmadeholiday #lowwaste #diychristmas #lowwastechristmas #plasticfreechristmas #diywreath #miniwreath #rosemarywreath #herbwreath

vintage photo slide lantern ✨ my late father was

vintage photo slide lantern ✨ my late father was an avid film photographer— it’s something I remember very fondly from my childhood as I watched him pour so much of himself into his craft, much like I do myself. He struggled with his mental health, especially during the holidays each year (which would then became the season I lost him to his battle when in my teen years). That looming cloud of grief would perpetually be tied to the holidays for me, although now almost two decades later— it has become a remnant of sorts. Lifelong grief is such an interesting thing in the way that it is not at all linear and therefore unpredictable. Sometimes reminders of my dad feel beautifully reminiscent and other times it feels overwhelming.

I happened upon a bunch of these vintage 35mm slides a while back and they made me so happy. They reminded me of how much he really loved his craft and how photography was sort of a bit of light for him in the darkness. This week is Elliot’s Waldorf school lantern walk and every year I make a personal lantern for myself. I knew that something like this would be perfect for it. I removed the negatives (would have kept them in if they were my dad’s though) and I upcycled a clear food container to create my own negatives where I added some pressed flowers that Elliot and I collected from our garden. I really love how they turned out— I’ve seen luminaries and lampshades made out of photo slides before but nothing constructed *exactly* like this so they feel really special.

#waldorfinspired #upcycledcrafts #recycledcrafts #handmadeholiday #pressedflowers #pressedflowercrafts #diylantern #photoslides

scrap fabric acorn garland + ornaments 🐿️ My

scrap fabric acorn garland + ornaments 🐿️ My favorite way to upcyle any smaller fabric scraps left over from other projects! A majority of these are vintage remnants that I’ve collected over the years with lots of intention— someone on an earlier video had also shared the idea of using bits of pieces from sentimental textiles which I thought was an amazing idea. I stuff my acorns with wool batting but use whatever you have on hand (like tiny fabric scraps that are otherwise unusable are great!)

Materials:
acorn caps, scrap fabric, wool for stuffing, needle and thread, twine, drill or something sharp to make your holes

Instructions:
- Cut circles out of your scrap fabric. Mine are about 2.5” in diameter
- Sew a running stitch around the edge of your circle by running your needle up and down through the fabric at a regular distance
- Pull the thread to cinch, stuff with wool and knot to secure
- Create two holes in the top of each acorn cap. I’m using a drill but you can also use an awl, push pin or end of a sharp knife
- To make a garland: use a needle to string twine through the caps at an equal distance. Glue each acorn inside the acorn cap to attach
- To make ornaments: thread your twine through the holes to create a hanger, tying on the underside of the cap. Glue each acorn inside the acorn cap to attach

#handmadeholiday #lowwaste #upcycledcrafts #naturecrafts #diychristmas #lowwastechristmas #diyornaments #acorncrafts #handmadedecorations

mini clay star garland ⭐ This has been one of my

mini clay star garland ⭐ This has been one of my most popular holiday projects over the past few years and is so easy to make using ingredients that you already have in your pantry. This recipe uses a 2:1 ratio of baking soda to cornstarch and for the size cookie cutter I use makes around 140 mini stars. The trick to making this is to make that you stir constantly and do not overcook the clay. The clay can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container and the stars painted once they’re dry. You can either air dry this clay or bake it to speed up the process.

Materials:
- 2 cups baking soda
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 1.5 cups water
- large needle and twine

Instructions:
- Combine baking soda, cornstarch and water in a small sauce pan and whisk until completely combined
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly (important) until the mixture starts to thicken.
- Remove from heat one the mixture is dough-like and transfer to a container to allow to cool to room temp
- Dust your surface with cornstarch and knead until smooth
- Roll your dough out to 1/4” thick and cut out mini star shapes with a cookie cutter. Use a chopstick or toothpick to add two holes for stringing them up
- Air dry or to bake: Bake on a cookie sheet line with parchment paper in your oven on the lowest setting (usually 170-200 degrees F) until dry. It usually takes a couple hours
- Use a large needle and twine to string the stars together

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