Discovering 2014: Personalized Candles

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

My day nine project was Personalized Candles. The idea was fostered when I saw this pin a few months ago and thought that it might be nice to put a more personalized touch on them for a gift.

The first challenge was finding some candles to use! After unearthing several that were enclosed in glass containers, I finally recalled seeing some votives when we had changed out our office desks last year.

I didn't have any fancy stick-on letters or numbers like what was used in the pin, so I grabbed a piece of cardstock and cut out a design on that. I also used some acrylic paint, just a small bit from $1 Craft Smart bottles.

I discovered that scotch tape doesn't hold onto candles very well, so I had to make sure the paper wrapped far enough to be taped onto itself.

I painted the side areas not covered by paper, and then let it dry.

I had to do some minor touch-ups on the wavy line candle after the paper was removed, but that was fairly easy.  I also tried free-handing letters onto another candle, which turned out functional, though not attractive (added a bit of glitter paint over it as well). I may apply a thin coat of matte Mod Podge later tonight to give it a nice finish.

If you're gifted with drawing or have something you can sketch with, this can be a fun project. These would probably make nice stocking stuffers for that person that seems to have everything. I don't think I'd try lettering again but I'm happy with how the wavy line candle came out!

Tune in tomorrow when we tackle Tulle Bows! An update on the delayed Incense Cones: the base ingredient arrived this afternoon as well as the sandalwood powder, so it's a go for Sunday!