Sunday, November 1, 2009

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!

24 comments:

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Love the little burlap votives. They are so cute, and the ice ring is fabulous. Great ideas. Thanks for the tutorial. Hugs, Marty

Blondie's Journal said...

Marsha~~~

Very clever ideas. With the popularity of burlap gaining, I need to get on the ball soon!! Love these votives!

The bundt pan ice ring sounds really neat. I am trying to think of an occassion to use it! lol!! Sounds impressive!

Thaks so much and enjoy your evening! :-)

xoxo
Janie

Paula@SweetPea said...

Love the burlap votives!

sarah { abeachcottage } said...

mmm I love burlap and these turned out great!

sarah

Tootsie said...

Love the burlap votives!!! and that ice ring is fantastic!

Its So Very Cheri said...

I love the burlap on your votive candles-so cute and super inexpensive--great job.

Cheri

Unknown said...

What a great little inexpensive idea! Thanks for sharing it.

Anonymous said...

I'm soooo excited you came over to Always Nesting! I love your blog. You have such great photography skills. I'm still a work in progress on that one.:) Marla

Anonymous said...

Morning Marsha

I need to find out where I can get some burlap or alternative in the UK? I have the votive glasses and it looks like something even I could do!! I am not very good at craft or anything like that.

Thank you for sharing the instructions. Jackie.

Darla said...

I love burlap and this is such a cute idea...black would have been great for halloween..

Kammy said...

So cute and great thanks for the tutorials !
Kammy

Unknown said...

Burlap seems to be really taking on new life lately. I love seeing everyone's projects with it. I'm going to try that punch, it looks so pretty and yummy!

SavoringTime in the Kitchen said...

Thanks so much for the tutorial! I may use them for Thanksgiving ;)

Anonymous said...

Marsha I found you on my followers list and for some reason don't have you on my blogs I follow list. I will take care of that right away. This was a great post. The ideas are very useable and classy. I am doing a thank you to my followers on the 30 days of my birthday month and you popped up for Nov. 3rd. Pop over and visit. I will be back and am recommending your blog to my daughter.
QMM

santamaker said...

Two great ideas I'll be copying! Love them both. Does the ice ring come off of the bundt pan easy or do you set it in warm water?

From the Old InkWell said...

To answer Santamaker's question, I put the bundt pan in warm water for no more than 10 seconds to loosen the ice, then turn upside down into punch bowl.

Judith @ Lavender Cottage said...

Interesting craft with the votives.
I'm lucky enough to have a Tupperware ring to freeze fruit and water in that I use in my punch bowl. The centre of it pulls out and that releases the frozen ring. I think it was orginally intended for jello mold rings and I've used it for them too.

cindy said...

So loving those burlap vases! Thanks for showing us how to do it. And I'm saving your punch recipe to try at Thanksgiving with my family.
peace.

Unknown said...

I just love the ice ring. I did it for the first time last summer. Looks so pretty. Now that Autumn punch I've gotta try. Love your blog. I am going to click on your "Follow" button and you can do the same if you like what you see at my blog.

Michelle @ Sweet Something Design said...

That is so cute Marsha! I love how pretty they look all grouped together!

Roeshel said...

I love the burlap votives with flowers! Perfect! And you included a tutorial! You're so creative. The pictures are beautiful! I like the ice ring too! What a great hostess! :)

Maureen said...

Awesome! Love the vases. And that punch sounds dee-lish!

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

So simple and pretty. I love it!

XOXO
Jen

Leanne said...

So pretty. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to make the burlap flower vases for sure.