DIY Holiday Luminaries by Jes Gordon

How can you truly personalize your table-scape this holiday? Watch this video from Jes Gordon to see how to create these Ethereal Luminaries using photos of your family and friends.

Here's how to do it yourself!

Supplies

Simple, clear glass cylindrical containers of different sizes
Printed sheets of personal photos
LED lights
Acrylic sea glass
Scotch tape

Instructions

Step 1: Choose a selection of family photos that help you remember great times shared with your loved ones.  Depending on the size of your table, you can decide how many cylinders to make.  You may want to choose a theme for each cylinder, for example:

Step 2: Each family member gets a cylinder

Step 3: Each season of the past year gets a cylinder

Step 4: Each cylinder represents a different trip or vacation taken together as a family

Step 5: Each cylinder represents an important event in the family's life that took place in the past year, such as a new baby, first day of school, new pet, award, new business, new home, religious milestone, etc.

Step 6: When you have selected the photos, use your favorite photo-editing software to create collages of each group.  Keep in mind the size of your cylinder--go back to high school geometry to determine the proper dimensions of each collage.  Each collage should measure x inches by y inches, where x is the height of the cylinder, and y is the distance around its base (circumference of the base.)

Step 7: Print the collages, and wrap them around the cylinders, using Scotch tape to keep them in place.

Step 8: Fill each canister with LED lights. Alternatively, use candles or electric candles to illuminate the luminaries from within.

Step 9: Place the luminaries on the table, and scatter acrylic sea glass in an accent color around them on the table.