If you love rustic chic decor, take a few minutes to create a candle centerpiece from a wood sugar mold, whether antique or reproduction. You'll love this simple project that can be completed in minutes. Below you'll find tips for getting your candles to stand up straight, as well as ideas for styling this piece throughout the upcoming cozy "ber" seasons!

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Hello and welcome to this month's Pinterest Challenge, hosted by Cindy of County Road 407. We are a group of decor loving gals who share inspiration with you each month, based off a single Pinterest image. We all have different decorating styles, and each of us has a unique take on the challenge, which helps you see how you can do the same! You'll be able to see everyone's links below. If you hopped over here from Cindy's post, welcome. Didn't you love her rustic branch centerpiece idea?

I'm Cindy too, and I have a fun and very simple centerpiece to share today. It's one that can carry you all through the BER seasons and into January with a few simple tweaks if desired!

Our inspiration image this month comes from Jeanne at Cozy, Stylish and Chic. Her set of tree stump candle holders, made from foraged birch wood, is arranged in a boxwood wreath for a rustic chic and cozy glow!

I made something similar to Jeanne's display when we lost several tree limbs during a storm when we lived in Texas. Mr DIY chopped the branches for me and drilled holes for taper candles. You can see them in my foraged Fall ideas post. When we moved from Texas, I tossed them out as there were just too many things to pack!

Here in Mississippi, we have not a single tree in our yard, and no way to forage thick branches (and I don't think my neighbors would appreciate me hacking away at their trees). 

I stopped by Hobby Lobby, and even checked Amazon for the price of their birch tree stumps but they were too expensive. I had to think outside the box on this challenge. 

So what did I do? I took another look at the inspiration image and here's what I took away:

• multiple candles to create an extra cozy glow
• rustic wood
• greenery

Back when we lived in Texas, we visited Round Top antiques market every year and one year I bought myself a couple of wood reproduction sugar molds. Now, they're available almost everywhere! In fact, Amazon has them with 1 hole all the way up to 12 holes!

I couldn't find my smaller, three-hole mold but I knew exactly where my larger one was. A few years ago I painted this one white, distressed it, and used it to hold pens, scissors and markers on the desk in my office.

I've always wanted to use the sugar mold with taper candles, and now was the perfect time! Here's how I did it. If you've got 5 minutes to decorate, this is the project for you. But first you'll need a few simple supplies and then I'll share some tips below for using artificial wax tapers, and getting those candles to stand up straight.

The first thing to do is add batteries to your candles and turn them on. I love these real wax tapers because they operate with a remote and have a timer. The button to turn them on is on the bottom, so I pressed them so they were all on. Then I used the remote to turn them off until I was ready. I also appreciate that they have a candle (flickering) mode in addition to the steady on. Plus, you can make the candle glow brighter or dimmer, depending on your needs!

I have to say they look pretty realistic for fake candles, the color of the flames is more natural than many I've seen which tend to be very orange.

Once the candles all have fresh batteries, and have been tested, I added dry rice to the wood mold cavities, about 3/4 of the way up. This is the trick that helps to stabilize the candles and keep them from toppling over. If you're using real tapers, you could try to hot glue them in place.

TIP: Remember, if you are using artificial tapers and they have a button on the bottom, turn them on first so you don't have to pull them out of the rice! Once they're set to ON, you can control them with the remote and use the timer to prompt them to come on at the same time every evening - I love this feature!

As a finishing touch, because I'm always an overachiever lol, I tied some vintage lace ribbon around the candles just to give them that little something extra. A thin velvet ribbon would be even prettier! Of course, I only thought of this after I took the pictures.

A sugar mold repurposed as a centerpiece is such a simple and neutral decorating idea, it will really work in any style or season! My home is currently a hodge podge of Fall and Christmas, so I decided to embrace it! I gathered a few pumpkins, a basket of pinecones and neutral trees to surround the sugar mold candle centerpiece. 

Did you see how I made my brown transferware turkey candles? Check this short video reel on my Instagram channel! You can find the tutorial for my dried floral candle ring here.

It does look so cozy, doesn't it? By the way, I'll be sharing the tutorials for these creamy vintage inspired trees soon, so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything!

And for the holidays, you can add a mini wreath to each candle, or tuck in a few berries. I haven't unpacked my Christmas decor yet, so had to use what I had in my craft room, but this will give you an idea for simply adding a little pop of holiday color.

I hope you're feeling inspired right now! Maybe you have one of these vintage style sugar molds but never know how to style it. I am loving the candle idea and may just leave it like this 😊

Michelle of Thistle Key Lane is next on our tour of cozy inspiration, I know you're going to love her birch candle arrangement and you'll be able to visit all the links below to see how the others took on this Pinterest challenge! If you love my idea, please do let me know, and feel free to Pin and Share with your decor-loving friends!

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thanks so much,