Lydia Newborn

 We had a lot of fun during this precious little girl's newborn photo shoot. Lydia was born Oct.15.2012 at 1:37 in the morning. She is the best thing to have ever happened to my little family.

The photographs in this scrapbook page were taken by Shelly Tripp  

Rustic Upholstered Pillar Candles

I needed a bunch of pillar candles for centerpieces for a rustic event setting. So, I got some burlap fabric from the store, and a couple of colors of grosgrain ribbons to match my theme. I took out my hot glue gun*, put down some newspaper, and precut the burlap strips and ribbons. Then, I just hot glued the layers. I did all the burlap wraps, putting a bead of glue on the burlap at the beginning and the end; laying the candle on its side and rolling it onto the strip. Be sure to do it tightly, so they don't want to slip off when cooled. Also, adjust and even everything up while glue is still warm and malleable. Then, let them stand and cool. Next, I did all the first color of ribbon, then let them cool. Then, I did all the second layer of ribbon and let them cool. I am considering adding an embellishment over the overlaps. But you don't need to, the flaws add to the charm. I didn't do it alone; I had two people working with me and together we were able to do 23 candles in under an hour.  Alone, I probably would have gotten into a groove and still finished pretty fast.

*cautionary note: Hot glue gun and melted glue is very hot. Use caution and uncommon sense with these tools and products.