Succulents in a Concrete Pot

So today I found a candle in a concrete cup for one buck!

Okay, it's true. It was actually 1,99€. Samuel is not happy that I have turned out to be one of the poor fools that fall for that marketing trick.

Every time I buy something and exclaim when I get home, "This was only five bucks!"

He always replies, "Are you sure? Was it maybe... 5,99€??"

And it usually was.

Anyway, when I got home, I snagged that candle right out of it's pot with a sharp knife. It wasn't in tight so it was easy to pick out.

As you can see from this crappy iPhone picture, I had a few succulents sitting around in these cute little pots. I had knocked them over one too many times and was starting to get sick of cleaning up all the dirt. I decided they needed to be planted in something a little heavier and harder to knock over. Concrete seemed like the perfect choice.

And guess what, these little guys were also a buck each!

Okay, there were probably some cents attached. I really can't remember.





There they are all planted and probably over-watered. But don't worry! It's very difficult to kill succulents, I've realized. I mean, I knocked them over several times and sometimes even just left them sitting there on the ground for a little while out of frustration without any dirt around their little roots. I even stepped on one. And they're still going strong!

Now about that candle I plucked out of this concrete thingy. We shouldn't let that go to waste.

I had an old candle that was just about done. It looked sort of like this one.

It was actually a white vanilla one, but I forgot to take a picture. Heh heh.

Anyway, throw that thing in the freezer for a bit and then you should be able to use a knife to easily pop out the old candle. Pick out any remaining wick and you can put it in with the new candle in a microwavable bowl.

I added some vanilla sugar and vanilla extract since the candle I had was scentless. Then I microwaved it until it was totally melted and stirred it up well.

I poured just a little into the old candle holder at first and let it harden so I had something to stick the wick into at the bottom. Then I poured the rest in. The wick kind of slid out of place, but as it hardened I could move it exactly where I wanted (I had very waxy fingers after that).

Some of the vanilla sugar floated to the top, resulting in a very delicious look candle.

It's not perfect, but as you can see, it works and smells awesome.