All-Around Candleholders

Give empty soup cans another life.

Make unique metal luminarias by piercing designs in the sides of juice or soup cans and standing pillar candles of an appropriate size inside. They'll look wonderful atop a mantel, on a staircase, or along an outdoor walkway. Use a can opener to make V shapes all along the edges. Vary the size of the cans for an unusual grouping.

For this project, try mayonnaise
jars or spaghetti-sauce jars too.

Canning jars make wonderful country-style candleholders for indoors or out. Half-fill them with sand and wedge a taper candle down into the sand. To complete the folksy and festive display, tie a sprig of cedar and berries around each jar's mouth with twine or raffia.

Add candles in front of the fire.

Enhance the cozy effect of a fire by grouping pillar candles in front of the hearth, as shown. To display them, half-fill a terra-cotta planter with sand (available at hardware stores and home centers) and stand the candles in the sand. If you live in an area where the weather is balmy, you could also do this with outdoor planters for a special nighttime occasion.