DIY bottle cap candles - Easy Stocking Stuffer

Things I don't have enough of: time, money

Things I have too much of: beer bottle caps, old candles, desire to be a redneck version of Martha Stewart

That makes this little gift in a jar I put together a perfect representation of all of the above.

 See, here's the thing.  I hate, hate, HATE when someone gives me a gift and I don't have anything prepared to reciprocate with.  I know Emily Post says to smile graciously and say "Thank you!" and be done with it, but awkwardness is my strong suit, and usually when this happens to me I turn red and stammer and stutter around for a minute then make up a blatant lie like "OH MY GOSH!  I LEFT YOURS IN THE CAR!!!  I'll be right back!" and then, depending on the situation, I either a) run to the all night drug store and pick up a bag of year-old mints because that's the only festive looking thing they have there or b) never return and mark that person permanently off my list of friends.

A few years ago I got the bright idea of carrying around a few extra small denomination gift cards inside Christmas cards, and I have actually used a couple of them, so it seems like a good thought, but a gift card stuffed in a Christmas card with no personalization whatsoever just kind of screams "GENERIC GIFT!!!!"  so I decided to take it one step further this year.  Added to that is my newfound love of gifts in jars (Hello 2007, I missed the memo, thanks) and so I came up with this little cutie.

Here's how I put it together.

To make the candles, first I rounded up some beer bottle caps and spray painted them in colors I love.  After they were dry, used a tiny dab of glue to put in some wicks that I got at my local craft store.  Then I used a candle remnant I had already to melt and pour into the bottle caps.  I Googled the best way to melt candle wax, and the internet was all "NNNNOOOOOO!!!!! YOU CAN'T PUT IT IN THE MICROWAVE!!!!!!" and I was like "Whatever, internet.  I don't need your advice anyway," and I totally melted it in the microwave and nobody was killed or maimed in the process.

So there.

Last, I trimmed the wicks to a reasonable length, and other than the time it took the paint to dry it took about three minutes total.

  

To set up the jar, I found a free printable Christmas pattern online and printed it out.  I wanted to use a box of matches but I didn't have any, so I used a couple books instead.  I wrapped the matches with the paper and then I cut a circle out of the patterned paper to fit the jar lid.  I used a little dab of glue to keep it in place, and that was it.

 Now I have a couple stashed in my too-large purse, and I'm ready for any sneak-attack gifters who may be out there lurking.

I love that part of the gift itself serves as the wrapping, and I love that it's not impersonal.

Now if someone would just give me a damn gift (I'm partial to shiny, geeky gadgety things, by the way) I could pull this out and act like I had it planned all along.