DiY Advent Candle Holder

Happy Monday! We are back and had a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving with family. I hope your Thanksgiving was a blessed one as well.
Now, I am in full Christmas mode! I fully intend on cranking up some Christmas music today and decorating the house, making some hot chocolate and possibly even a batch of cookies too! Let the festivities begin!

I am so SUPER excited about celebrating Advent this year and I wanted to share my latest project with you.
I really wanted to incorporate the Advent candles. I love the beautiful visual that they give to the anticipation of the coming of Christ.
However, I am not in love with the traditional look of the advent candle holders. So....with the help of my husband, I made my own!
I had a vision and knew what I wanted but needed a little assistance from my handy man. ;)

I used a 2x6 piece of wood. We measured the wood so that we could find and mark the center.

Next, we took this little guy (our drill attachment) and placed it over our center mark and traced our first circle onto the wood.

We then took some more measurements; measuring from the center circle to the end of the wood to determine where our outer most circles would go, taking measurements from the outer circles to the end of the wood to make sure they were the same on both sides, and then marking and tracing our circles in between.

Now that everything is measured, marked and traced we are ready to head outside with the drill!

This was in fact my first time to cut circles with the drill and.....it was really fun! Also, much easier than I would have thought. This could be a new DiY addiction of mine!
 The drill got really hot while drilling the holes and began smoking. So......yeah, we couldn't resist!

What can I say....we have fun together!

Here is a better view of the circles and the drilling and my husband helping me out.

Holes drilled!

And cute little wooden circles too! I am not sure why but I love these. I think they are so cute! The wheels are spinning and I have a few ideas in mind for these cuties. They will be making another appearance on the ole' blog later.

Now, it's time to sand down those rough edges. Go ahead and sand down the whole piece after you finish the inside and outer edges of the circles. Giving it a smooth finish will prep your piece for paint!

Next, it is time for some paint! I really went back and forth with staining the wood or painting it but I kept coming back to the red.
I used spray paint and applied 2-3 good coats. Then, I took my sandpaper and distressed all of the edges and corner a bit. Also, I decided to grab my beloved black stamp pad and run it over the edges and random parts of the whole piece to give it a bit more character.
And lastly, I grabbed some simple clear glass votive holders from Walmart (a package of 12, with the candles for $6.50) and placed one in each hole. They are a perfect fit so if you choose to make one of your own, be and sure and take note of the size of the circular attachment we used, shown in the photo.

I wanted Advent candles. I wanted modern. I wanted something that could be easily be placed on a table and not easily knocked over by little ones. I love the end result!
What do you think?

I can't wait for Advent to begin; to sit down with my family and do our first Advent devotional and light that first candle together. What a beautiful season and even more than that, a beautiful Savior.
-Jenny

A few links with more info on Advent and the meaning behind the candles:

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/holidays/making-meaningful-christmas-memories/celebrate-advent.aspx
http://www.thevillagechurch.net/the-village-blog/the-season-of-advent/