Floating Walnut Candles

Happy New Year, friends! Sorry about the unplanned blogging hiatus...I'm back on the East Coast for the holidays and have been busy with family time and a fun weekend trip to NYC (more on that later!). I had all sorts of holiday projects and recipes planned for you and started to get stressed about getting them done and then quickly realized that getting stressed isn't the point of blogging! So, I just let it go, let my computer die and hardly opened it over the holidays. It was nice to unplug. Anyway, now I am back! This is one of those DIYs I planned on sharing before the holidays, but I figured I could share now anyway since these sweet little candles are fun for any time of year.

My mom's side of the family has a tradition of lighting these candles together during the holidays...I was talking to my parents and we actually couldn't remember which day we typically do it on (oops!). I think the tradition was originally to do it on the Winter Solstice, but last year we did it on New Years Eve since that was when we were all together. Everyone takes a turn lighting a candle and putting it in a bowl of water as they say their wish/dream for the New Year or something they are thankful for. Of course, if you aren't into such sappy traditions, these are also nice to just have as decorations :) They make a beautiful center piece.

To make these you will need:
Walnuts (or other nuts with large enough shells)
Wax (you can just melt down old candles)
Wick (make sure the ones you get are compatible with your wax!)
A bobby pin
A can
A saucepan

First, you will need to crack your nuts and clean out the halves. This proved to be quite difficult for me as the nuts we had were pretty hard to crack without turning the whole thing into crumbs. We used a variety of nutcrackers, knives, files and pliers to get it done. After we got the hang of it, it didn't take too long. I've also heard roasting them for a little while can help.

Next, cut your wick to the appropriate size. Use the bobby pin to set the wick up in the middle of the nut shell. Now, you're going to create a makeshift double boiler. Fill a saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Cut up the wax into little pieces and put it in the can. Now, put the can in the hot water so the wax melts. Once the wax has melted, pour a tiny dot of wax onto your working surface and set your shell on it, so the wax holds it upright. Once the shell is secured in place, carefully fill the shell with wax, making sure not to let it overflow. Let the wax harden, and you're done! If you don't want to make candles you can also make cute little boats by sticking a toothpick with a colorful paper sail into the wax!