How To: Easy Driftwood Tea Light Holders

My wedding was basically one big DIY project. I (admittedly) went a little overboard with all my little 'personal' touches...but I did learn a lot in the process and I thought sharing would be the best way to celebrate all those little things that helped make the day so special.

How to make driftwood tea light holders like this:

Tools Needed:
          1 Drill
          1 Spade Drill Bit (we used a 1 1/2 inch bit like this one from Home Depot...but the size can vary depending on the size of your candles or tea lights)
          Tealights
          Driftwood (you could really use any wood that is at least half an inch wider than your tea light)

Actually, these weren't even my idea at all. My brilliant sister had seen something similar done at some other brilliant person's wedding and when she suggested it I was immediately on board.

 Apparently, once upon a time, the forested area way WAY behind the wedding site had been cleared of mature trees in preparation for a housing development that never...eh...developed. Soo...all these lovely branches were left out in the sun to get nice and bleached out...just waiting to be used in a wedding! We tried to find ones that had dried out without rotting, that were relatively straight, and were between four to six feet in length (to fit nicely on the six foot rectangular tables we were using at the reception). Once we had collected to our hearts desire, we started drilling. I held the branch steady while my soon-to-be husband drilled out the holes. We didn't even bother trying to measure out where we would put the tea lights to make sure they were evenly spaced...just eyeballed and started drilling. After we finished drilling, we blew out the shavings and popped in the tea lights. It was pretty much a no-brainer...ie: my kind of project!

Since I KNOW I wasn't the first to think this thing up...I perused the internets and found two other tutorials that are WAY better than mine.

One is over at Restoration House:

And another using a block of wood by Vecco Studio:

In short, with some free wood, a drill and spade bit, and a few tealights, we were able to add some interesting table decor to our rustic chic wedding...and I, for one, LOVED them!