Night Light

Now that the mercury has finally risen, I try to find every reason to be outside as long as I can, even in the the night hours. However, since fireflies don't grace my West Seattle home very often (make that never), I have come up with some cute and inexpensive ways to light my deck. To complete the area, group different size vases filled with river rocks and place tea lights on top. You can also fill extra mason jars with sand and a tea light to line pathways or stairs.

A word of caution: Make sure the branches on which you plan to hang your lanterns are strong enough to support the weight of the jar and the sand. Also, you will need to make the handle long enough to keep the fire clear of the branches and any greenery.

Mason jar lanterns are easy to make at home and make your patio feel like an enchanted forest. You will need:

Glass jars: I used small, short mason jars I had on hand
Wire: proportionate to jar size
Pliers
Sand: you can also use small rocks.
I even have some left over road salt from last winter's storm that would work well.
Tea lights or candles sized accordingly to your jar size

{Start by measuring the wire. You will need enough for at least 1 1/2 times around the mouth of the jar plus enough to use for hanging. Wrap the wire around the mouth once and twist to close}

{Pull the wire back to the opposite side of the jar and loop to secure in place}

{Loop the remaining wire back to the opposite side and twist to secure}

{Fill with sand and place candle firmly down into the sand}
{Hang and enjoy}

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Hope you enjoy your evenings a little longer.

Devonly, Yours.