Fireflies in the night

For evening parties nothing beats an spring event that is lit by candlelight.  However this is 2010 and lighting has gotten a bit more fun!  Enter the multi-colored, lighted, ice cube!

Unfortunately taking photos that both captured the feel of the arrangements and yet also allowed enough light to see was a bit tricky.  Hopefully you'll get the mood anyway.

First I took cylinders in varying heights and widths and filled them with colored water (I used regular food coloring from the supermarket in fluorescent colors).  In some I added a scoop of gel beads and let them set for 4 hours.  Once the gel beads had firmed up, I added the light cubes in varying depths.  The ones with only colored water I set on top of illuminated bases.

If you haven't used gel beads you should definitely try them out.  They are green friendly and so much fun.  They even come in different shapes and colors now, spheres, cubes, black, white etc.  Just add a scoop to water and watch them slowly absorb the liquid and gel into their shape.  You can even re-use them!  Get clear if you want them to absorb any coloring you put into the water.

I used colored wire twisted into springy shapes to hang from the lips of the cylinders.  These also supported large test tubes which hung down with multi-colored gerbera daisies.

Cylinders, gel beads, light cubes, and test tubes from Accent Decor.
Gerbera daisies from Costco online.