Luminaries for Holiday Decor

In my search for something new, something different to make the house warm and cozy for the holidays, I've turned to Pinterest.  I SO love Pinterest and the wealth of ideas that come from all over the place. 

In my searching, I came across the most fantastic recipe for water balloon luminaries (Thank you the36thavenue.com and candletech.com!).  I've been dealing with a 20lb slab  of vanilla scented wax for quite a while as it didn't fit into what Zhi is all about.  It has sat....and sat.....and sat some more.  But here's what I can up with!

I started with some of my kids' water balloon granades.  Yea, I know....had a ton of explaining to do.  :)

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Filled it 3/4 of the way and tied a knot in the top.

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Then I dipped the water balloon to just under the water line so that the balloon didn't pop (as instructed).  I did 3-4 dips at a time, then let the balloon sit 5-10 minutes. 

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Repeated this process until there's about an 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch of wax.

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Popped the balloon over the sink to avoid a mess.  Shake out any excess wax from the edges. You'll have some rough edges like this too, but the fix for that is coming next.  :)

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Taa-Daa!  I warmed a glass pie pan on the stove and put a sheet of foil on top.  For just a sec, I then turned the luminary upside down on the pan--being sure to let it go so it melted evenly.  Had to repeat the same on the bottom--it was uneven.  ;)

ALL DONE!

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Here are the finished results!