Shine a Light..............

Hello,

I have been having so much fun recently making lots of candle gifts.  Most were for show at my catalogue launch party, but I did a couple of different ones (stupidly didn't take pictures!) for a couple of lovely girlies at work.  They loved them............

First I decided to make some gift boxes to pretty up basic tea lights.

These boxes, once I got the dimensions right, were quick and easy to assemble.  You could make them from any colour card stock and with so many different packs of Designer Series Paper, the options are endless.

I used Pretty in Pink and Wisteria Wonder card for one, with Flirtatious DSP and the sentiment, inked in Wisteria Wonder on Whisper White card, from the Oval All stamp set.  This was mounted on a Scallop Oval of Wisteria Wonder.  The 1/2" Circle Punch was used to punch the end tabs to enable you to pull the tea lights out.

The other box was made with Real Real and Wild Wasabi card, with DSP from the Just Add Cake pack.  I used the ornament image from Tags til Christmas stamp set, inked in Real red and punched out with the Ornament Punch.  This was tied to the box using Linen Thread.

I then moved on to stamping directly on candles.  I thought this was going to be quite tough and time consuming, but I was so wrong!  This is the most simple thing ever, and really quick too.

I got plain white pillar candles, some tissue paper that matched the white candles, and then basic grease proof paper from the kitchen drawer.

It's best to use bright, vibrant colours, and solid images for this technique as they show up best.

Stamp your image onto the tissue paper and then roughly cut around the edge, don't leave too much excess.

Lay this onto the candle where you want it, and then wrap a piece of grease proof paper around the candle so you can grab the ends and wrap it tight.

Use a heat gun and go over the image that you can see through the grease proof paper.  As it sticks to the candle you will notice the image take on a glassy appearance (you will notice a change).  Once it's changed all over it should be done.  Gently peel back the grease proof paper and your image should have melted into the candle!  If an area is still loose, just re-heat gently a second time.

With this candle, after stamping the image, I embellished using Clear Rhinestone Brads of varying sizes to match the flower sizes.

It was stamped all round, about 6 images in total, but here you can just see two. The Island Indigo worked brilliantly.

I then went to town and tried it with other colours, did a bit of rock n roll technique with the butterfly's, and even some masking with the hearts images.

As you can see, the Delicate Doilies images don't stand out quite as well.  The images are quite delicate, as the name suggests, and I also used lighter colours with Calypso Coral and Pool Party.

The tall pillar candle with the I (Heart) Hearts images, was inked in Real Red, Poppy Parade and Cherry Cobbler. The butterfly images from Butterfly Prints was inked in Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry.

Don't you think these would make great, inexpensive, gifts for friends and family this Christmas????

Why not give it a try and let me know how you get on, or even better, send me a picture of your gorgeous candles to craftybugjules@yahoo.co.uk

Just be safe with those heat guns!

Julie xx