burlap flower vases and ice rings

Remember the burlap vases I showed you HERE? As promised, I'm here to show you how I made them.

It's really so simple. Begin with a glass votive cup. You can pick these up anywhere, but the dollar store is an inexpensive place to start.

Cut a piece of burlap in a circle large enough to cover the votive cup and about an inch larger. Before cutting, bring you burlap around the votive cup and this will give you an idea how large to cut your circle.

When I made these, I thought I would be able to simply pull the burlap around the votive cup and tie with a ribbon, but this was no so easy to do. My burlap kept sliding down the cup. So I decided to glue the cup about 3 places around the edge to hold the burlap in place. This worked well.

Next, tie raffia, ribbon or whatever you desire around the burlap covered cup. Tie a bow and glue in place with the hot glue gun.

Fill with water and your favorite flowers. And there you have an inexpensive way to show-off fresh flowers on your table.

Don't go away! With this post, you get two for the price of one. HA!

I also promised to tell you about the ice ring and punch we had at the shower.

To make a pretty ice ring for autumn punch:

~thinly slice an orange and lemon

~arrange in a bundt pan

~Fill bundt pan with fruit juice used in your punch.

(I used a combination of pineapple, orange, lemon and apple juice.)
~Place your filled bundt pan in the freezer the night before your party.

Just before serving, place your frozen ring in your punch bowl and pour mixed punch ingredients over ring.

Don't think you have to use a traditional punch bowl. Be creative. For this shower, I used a glass container with a bronze iron stand, but you could use a clear bowl hidden inside of a pumpkin. Wouldn't that be clever?!

If your interested in making this Spiced Punch for your autumn entertaining, I've given you the recipe below. It would be great for Thanksgiving.

3 quarts apple juice

12-16 each whole cloves

4 each cinnamon sticks

2 quarts orange juice

1 cup lemon juice

2 (2-litre) ginger ale

Simmer apple juice in an uncovered kettle with spices wrapped in cheesecloth for about 20 minutes. (Makes your house smell good too!) Discard spices. Mix spiced apple juice with remaining fruit juices.

Place ice ring in punch bowl. Fill half-way with fruit juice and fill the rest of the bowl with ginger ale. Refill with fruit juice and ginger ale as needed. This will serve about 30 people. You can half ingredients if serving less. ENJOY!

I'm linking with Met. Monday , Celebrate the Holidays, and DIY Day.