Happy 4th of July Firecrackers Weekend Project

Are these "firecrackers" not the most adorable center pieces for the holiday that you've ever seen?  And SO easy to make too!  I found the idea at Amy's blog "Then She Made".  She had posted it on her blog last year and I had just run across it the other day.  I thought I had finished surfing the Internet and seen all there was to see!!! LOL  

My first quest in making these was to go to the store and get some rolls of Life Savers.  So I went to Walgreen's.  There's not too many places anymore that you can buy single candy.  I was informed that you can't get Life Savers in rolls until fall, more towards Thanksgiving time.  Apparently they have become a holiday candy.  So my next task was to go to the craft store or to the hardware store and get a dowel around the size of a Life Saver roll.  I had to stop at the fabric store, which was next to Michael's so I went there to get my dowel.  As I was in line to check out I turned to look at all the impulse stuff and next to that was candy.  And there I found rolls of Life Savers.  I picked up three of them and told the gal at the register I changed my mind on the dowel.  

I decorated the outside of the Life Savers with DP from the Bold Brights pack and the white one was from the Neutrals pack.  It didn't take much DP either!  After I wrapped the paper around them I glued them in place.  I thought glue would be better to use, it gives you time to straighten things out if you need to.  Once the glue was set up I slid the wrapper up the tube a bit and added a bit of tape to the foil wrapper.  Then I slid the outer wrapper down to where I wanted it to be and pressed the tape into it.  I did that to all 3 rolls.  Then I took some Glue Dots and taped the three rolls together.  Next I tied a ribbon around the 3 rolls.  

I tried to do the wire like the directions said but it didn't work for me.  SO I just poked holes in the top of each roll and took the wire and twisted the end and stuck it in the hole.  I did curl the ends before placing them in the holes.  They are not glued or taped to the inside.  They are just sort of stuck in there because the wire was so fine it didn't stay where I put it.  It became a bit loose inside the roll, which was a good thing because it then stayed in place inside the rolls.  

I punched out some stars and glued two together with the wire sandwiched between them.  I also glued a couple of stars to the white "firecracker" and after looking at it I liked what I saw and called it done!

It is the centerpiece for this evenings table.  Sorry I didn't get this posted sooner for you to make them for your holiday table but there's always next year.  You have plenty of time to find the rolls of candy!!!  I'm going to box these away for next year.  I may make another set next year too!  They were fun and just TOO stinkin' cute.

I hope you all have a safe and happy 4th of July!
Wanda