Holiday of (LED) Lights

Somewhat like the miracle of Hanukkah, this one-day project took eight days to finish. (I’m exaggerating, of course, though it definitely did take longer than planned…)

I’ve been seeing so many beautiful Christmas vignettes and wanted to join in on the fun, so I decided to make a Hanukkah themed one. It has a lot of elements that feel nostalgic to me (and probably for a lot of Israelis), but many are based on techniques shared by Tim Holtz and his wondrous team of makers. You can see the making process in the video here, and some comments about the process bellow. For a list of materials scroll to the bottom of the page.

When I was a kid, we would build a Hanukkiah (the eight candles Menorah used in Hanukkah) every year in kindergarten\school. It was a very basic one: soda caps glued on a piece of wood and then decorated with whatever paints, glitter or stickers we wanted. The caps, being metal, served as a perfect base for the candles to sit in, keeping the hot wax and candles away from anything flammable.

These childhood Hanukkiahs were my inspiration here, and I decided to build one on top of a vignette box and to make them LED lighted, because – why not?

Sodas with metal caps are very rare here now, so I used beer caps (the week leading to this project was quite happy 😉). In truth, I could have used real Hanukkah candles in the caps, just like I did as a kid, but after the Halloween\Christmas candles I’ve seen made I just had to try making Hanukkah ones!

These candles are a variation on the technique originally shared by by Tami Bastiaans and then lighted up by Tim Holtz,

I just adjusted them a bit. Hannukah candles are usually narrow and medium height, with bright colors. At least that’s what I remember from my childhood, you can get fancier ones ,with patterns and such, but I remember red, blue, yellow and green. I also remember carefully considering the order of the colors each evening.

They were made with pieces of cardstock that were cut to strips, rolled and glues over to elongated tubes. I used distress paints to color the tubes, then added drips with hot glues and topped with another layer of paint. I chose strong, but rather dark shades (including the new rustic wilderness – yum) that fit with the vintage theme. Each candle was adhered onto one of the caps, that were glued in a line on a piece of chipboard. This was the roof of a small compartment I created to hide all the cables. Lining up the holes in the candle, cap and base definitely took some patience….

The LED lights were colored with alcohol ink for a lovely warm yellow and then threaded through the candles. I ended up using two light strands, because going up and down the candles required quite a bit of length. I decided I want only the “flames” to light, so I followed the technique shared by Tim in his 3rd holidays demo (it was shared first by n.virpi in her Instagram, but Tim’s video shows the process so well), and had lights peek out the top of the candles. Once threaded, I gently twisted the folded tips of the wire for a more realistic look.

Once my hanukkiah was secured on the top I got to embellishing the vignette. I already covered it inside-and-out with papers, before adding the lights, so I was ready to add all my little elements.

The middle section is the only one that is lighted. The photo is of my uncle as a child, lighting up a hanukkiah, which I scanned and printed. I love how focused he looks in it :D

I only had a couple of light behind the hanukkiah so it really looks like it’s lighting up the room.

On the right is an authentic (!!) 1980’s plastic dreidel, with the classic 80’s coloring (…). I actually used this dreidel in making the coins behind it. Chocolate coins were a favorite in Hanukkah, a yummy treat symbolizing a tradition of giving a small amount of money to kids in Hanukkah – the money and the sweets you’d buy with it in one lol

To make the coins, I used the technique that Tami Bastiaans shared in July. I didn’t have any dies or stamps that really fit a Hanukkah theme, but then I noticed that the dreidel has menorah and cruse images on two of its faces and figured – why not stamp with those?

The left section has Hanukkah songs adhered in the back, I used collage paper so that they would blend as much as possible into the textured paper I used as backing. At the center is a reference to the Hanukkah miracle, where the oil in a small cruse, that should only be enough to light a lamp for one day, lasted for eight days.

The cruse is an idea-ology tiny vial, with a handle I made from wire, painted in gunmetal acrylic paint. The lamp was made using the candle die in the Frightful Things set, sans the candle (it makes sense if you know the die, I swear!). The candle crowns were a must accessory for any child in a Hanukkah party. My childhood candle-crowns were far less elaborates, but I can’t resist a good paper drip!

It came out a lot crispier than I anticipated! I embossed the images on gold paper circles, added a round border for a raised edge and finished with some crayons to bring out the embossed images even more.

I really enjoyed making this vignette, and it makes me smile when I look at it, bringing back childhood memories. I also really crave some latkes now… ;)

Hope you enjoyed this project and little walk-through. I know I didn’t cover everything so please feel free to ask!

Happy holidays!

xx

Naama

Main materials used:

• Paper: distress mixed media heavystock, Tonic Studios champagne reception (1970E)

• Stain spray: frayed burlap, ground espresso

• Oxide spray: frayed burlap, vintage photo

• Distress paints: candid apple, mustard seed, rustic wilderness, chipped sapphire, vintage photo, ground espresso

• Dies: Frightful Things (664209), Regions Beyond (664207), Crochet (664178)

• Stamps: Hero Arts trefoil bold prints

• Idea-ology: tiny vials, tiny lights