It all started with a branch.  You'll want to let it dry out if you are going to seal it in the end. If not, you'll be okay to move ahead sooner.

I guessed at the size I wanted my candle holders to be and I sawed them to size.  After sawing them, I sanded the top and the bottom of the branches with a sanding block.

I used Polycrylic to seal the candle holders.  I was a little disappointed that some of the "white" from the aspen seemed to disappear, but I felt it better to seal the candle holder for long term and to prevent splitting and cracking as they dry.

Using a 1 1/2 inch spade drill bit in our drill, we made indents for the candles.

We tested both candle holders to make sure both a tealight candle and a battery-operated tea light candle would fit into the holders.

We could have drilled the battery-operated tealight down more but then the candle tealight would have sat down too low and we didn't want the flame that blows in the wood.