Melissa, we need to trade yards for a little while - all I have are pine trees. I love what you did w/ the branches and am in desperate need of some votive candle holders!

How clever. Those are great!

My house was finished in Dec. and I needed grass - wasn't fun having to try to catch my dog as she came running back into the house from the mudfield that was grass when I bought the land.

Melissa, I am going to pray for green grass and critter free yard for you. I dealt w/ snakes and gator's all the time when I live in Fla.

Fabulous - the perfect fall/holiday centerpiece!

i have a limb just screaming to be a candle holder...love these beauties

cool

I so will Melissa-TheHappierHomemaker

My neighbor just got wood delivered for his fireplace. I am wondering if they would notice if a couple thinner pieces were to vanish? - just kidding, but darn it, I can't make this from the pine branches I have to cut back soon!!!!

Love these Melissa!! I just got my hubby to drill holes in a branch from our gorgeous plum tree we lost in Hurricane Irene in Aug. 2011. Actually, not holes per se but the place where you can put a tea light and lay the branch horizontally on a table top. I need him to enlarge the spaces a teeny bit though because I just bought the LED tea lights and they don't fit flush like I want. I think I'm going to have to make another trip into our woods tomorrow - see what I can find!! ...»

Melissa - he used a 1 1/2" paddle drill bit which as you probably know, will make a nice deep depression so your tea light will sit flush w/the top of the wood. A couple of the holes on mine need to be just a tiny bit wider so the LED lights will slip in more easily. He said a dremel tool would sand down the edges so they'd go in easier. Hope this helps.

I got one log from the neighbor's stack that seems to be around the right sizeThe rest of his logs were to big!!! Off to find another souce!

I've had some logs in the basement for a year now, but have yet to cut them down to get under the drill press to make the holes for the FAKE tea lights. I tried to cut them with one of our chop saws, but it kicked back on me. Big time. So please anyone that does this BE CAREFUL. After doing so I Googled how to cut them and read it's not a good idea to cut uneven logs that way. Yep, that I found out for myself. Scared the heck out of me when it kicked back. ...»

Isn't it though Melissa? I thought I was in for it when that happened. Boy did I thank the Lord nothing worse than a good scare happened to me. I'm guessing that's all that happened to you too?

This comment starts off sounding daffy, but bare with me... Years ago, when bagels were becoming widely popular in the US and they were not yet pre-sliced... ER rooms were frequently visited by people in bathrobes on weekend mornings, with sliced fingers. In the dark humor typical of the ER, these were called BRI's (bagel related injuries) and were an epidemic. Tough to cut, round shape... sound familiar? Cutting round branches with a circular saw is an even more dangerous proposition. I could go on, but you get the picture.

LOL Brian. We were told pretty much the same thing about nail gun injuries (NGRIs). While working on framing in our front porch hubby sent me in the house to start dinner and didn't wait for me to come back out to help hold the wood for him. He had his left arm stretched to hold a piece of 2x4 to another 2x4 that was at a right angle of the one he was holding while he used the nail gun with his right hand. It double shot ...»

Lol too Brian, and that was the day's first laugh!

Melissa, I came back home and had to take my wreath down. Thanks for the leaves. I am still searching for another piece of a branch to make my second votive holder with. I am a little bummed b/c one of my crystal votive holders broke, so I am thinking of pairing my one branch w/ the one remaining crystal... I can't just burn one candle at a time, when two smell so much nicer! - lol