On the 17th Day of Christmas Crafting...

 

I discovered that my Christmas card supplies were getting low, so I had to create a few more this month! These cards showcase an image by Fresh Brewed Designs (closed). I printed the image twice for each card and used dimensional tape to make the candles pop. They are note card-sized, 4.5x5.5. I have sold most of my holiday cards at craft fairs in packs of four. I guess I'll be making quite a few of these in the New Year!!

How are you doing on your holiday crafting? Are you mainly a card maker, or do you play with other types of crafting? I have ADHD, and I call it my super power. I can go to a thrift store and see something on a shelf and think "I can make this into such and such" or " this would look good if I just blah, blah, blah..."

...which of course leads me to buying on impulse and sometimes storing an item for a week or three or 12...which is why I am always decluttering because I have a backlog of projects and a lack of storage...

...life is never dull at my house!!

31 Days of All Hallows Eve - Day 29 - Spooky Skull Candle

 

Halloween is so close I can taste it!! I'm hoping to get more than a handful of trick-or-treaters this year. I don't want to have that candy sitting around my house, hypnotizing me into taking a bite...and another...and another...LOL

Today I made a candle for Halloween. Well, I didn't pour melted wax into a mold and make it. I used a thrift-store-bought candle that was still wrapped in its plastic. Tearing off said plastic, I used a leftover Halloween napkin and peeled the two layers of paper apart. I adhered it to the candle, and I'll tell you how I did it:

I cut out the napkin to fit my candle, then cut out a longer piece of wax paper. I covered the candle first with the napkin, then the wax paper. Holding tightly to the ends of the wax paper to get a smooth surface, I used my heat gun to melt the wax from the wax paper onto the wax candle. It looks and feels like it was produced that way. I've had success with selling my candles at craft fairs, separate or in sets.

With my skull candle decorated, I added a line of adhesive pearls to the top and bottom. If I were selling this, I would place it in a plastic gift bag and tie some Halloween ribbon to keep it closed. But I'm not selling any of my Halloween makes this year. I have a whole basement of collectables and trading cards, etc., from my mom's basement to inventory, photograph and list to sell. I want my basement back in livable condition!

 

You Light Up my Life

We love to light candles for a romantic night at home together, but we are always forgetting to distinguish them before going to bed.  So I bought some flameless tea candles and snagged a couple tall glass containers from Goodwill and made us some safe romantic lights for our next "night in".
I used a Queen Kat Designs February release stamp called Love Birds by artist Laura Macy.  I stamped and embossed the image in purple onto vellum paper and cut the vellum to fit the glass jar.  I adhered it to the outside of the glass and added some fiber and my project is finished.  Very safe, very pretty, very simple.
For more of Laura Macy's stamps, as well as all the new QKD releases, check out the Shoppe.

Thank You Never Looked So Good

I learned a new (to me) technique today!! I stamped and colored my Crafter's Companion Popcorn the Bear images, and then heat sealed them onto a pillar candle!! I love the look of it and will remember how easy it is around Christmas time!!

Meanwhile, Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog has a new challenge for August, practically a free-for-all! it only asks that you use one of their images, and use a thank you theme on your project! The hardest part of the challenge was choosing which stamp set to use on my project! LOL I decided on Popcorn the Bear "Thanks a Bunch" stamp set, and stamped popcorn, the sentiment and a couple flowers onto lightly colored mulberry paper, then used Copics: E00,35; G00; BG15,72; YG03; Y17; YR61 & RV13 to color them all. Following an excellent tutorial on SCS, I heat embossed the images onto a white pillar candle I picked up at WalMart for $2. I love the way the candle is smooth and doesn't show that I put extra layers onto it.

WARNING: Learn from my mistake!! Make sure the candle is RIGHT SIDE UP!!! I finished off my candle and then discovered I had stamped my candle upside down! Boohoo!! But the girl scout in me came to my rescue, and I used a knife to pull the wick through the bottom of the candle, thereby saving the day, my project and my pride!!


You have all month to play in the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog, so have fun!!

I am doubly happy to add my project to CRAFT YOUR PASSION challenge blog, as this week's challenge is sponsored than one of my fave companies, Crafter's Companion, so my project is so very appropriate, although I will mention you don't have to use a sponsor's product to join in their challenges!