So, my friend J and I have been on a candle-making binge, which has had unexpected success, with a few hilarious failures here and there. During these experiments, we discovered that candle-making sure does have a lot of idle time, and idle hands are bad, bad things…at least, I think they are.

Anyway, we decided to fill this time last weekend with more craft lunacy, because what better way to fill the idle time than with yet another project that involves heat, sharp objects, and possible trips to the ER?

With our Fall-obsession in full force, we decided to try our hand at a dried apple wreath we saw on the internet. After a fun adventure in search of craft wire (which was WAY more difficult than it probably should have been), we scored at the local Michaels in the floral section. J peeled a boatload of apples, I sliced them with my handy mandolin, and we soaked them in a noxious mixture of lemon juice and salt. Afterward, we mixed up a bowl of cinnamon, allspice and cloves, and dredged our slimy apples in them, and popped them into a 200 degree oven to dry:

This only took a couple of hours, which was way off of our six hour estimate. Once the apples were pretty dry but still pliable, we folded them, threaded them through the wire, and made this:

The candles hanging in the center were our first attempt at taper candles. Overall, our little wreath may not be much to look at, but we did have fun doing it, and it smells dang good too. Who knows what kind of mayhem we will get into this weekend?