Hooray! I did it—with a whole week to spare ;)—I completed my first Baker’s Dozen project! Actually, this project, simple as it is, is one of the ideas that helped me decide to have a Baker’s Dozen year in the first place. I love anything having to do with lights, and the first time I saw this I was all but smitten. In case you haven’t guessed, I got it from Pinterest. And Pinterest got it from Annaboo’s House (whose post and pictures about this—as well as her actual jars—are so far superior to mine, you’re missing out if you don’t have yourself a look-see). The minute I saw it, I promptly re-pinned it, but I knew I probably wouldn’t ever get around to actually doing it. Like so many other pins :) But I kept thinking of it, kept thinking how lovely it would be, and I decided I needed a way to really make myself see it through. It was around that time that I was looking for a theme for 2013, and things just sort of fell together—and I knew right away this was going to be one of the projects in my Baker’s Dozen year.

This is one of the easiest, most rewarding crafts I’ve done in a while. It’s literally a piece of lace glued to a glass jar, a tea light thrown in—and voila! loveliness is yours. It really is that easy.

Of course, if you want to complicate it a little, I can recommend a couple of things. First, make sure you get super excited. I mean so really truly enchanted with the idea that you go all out, scour the house for jars, and make as many as you possibly can. Line them up so prettily on your mantle…and then realize that you threw away all your tea lights last autumn (“I will never use those. I don’t even know why I bought them”). Make sure you’re in pajamas at this point, so that the idea of [getting dressed, putting on shoes, driving all the way to Target] going out to buy candles resembles the Aegean stables. Decide that MacGuyver always had the right idea and scrounge around for what candles you might have. Three dusty, almost dead tea lights? Perfect! Emergency candles…hm maybe better save those… Birthday cake candles? Sure, why not! Melt down the bottoms a little, twist them around, lay them on foil, and voila! You can fill every jar you’ve got!

If that’s too much, you could just get Krazy glue on several fingers instead. I hear good things about that.

Seriously, though, do whatever it takes. This is way fun, super super cheap, and so special.

Baker’s Dozen #1: Done! Love.