Sweet Snippets: Home made Monogrammed Candles

Before I jump into this article I have to tell y’all a story. Sitting at my desk I pondered what type of project I should take on at home, when I got a great idea: why not have somebody decide for me? Already texting my friend Jon (who happens to be a 6’3’’ bear-man from Germany) I decided that he would be the producer of said project! Wedged in between our ongoing conversation I asked, “Okay, if you were a bride and wanted to learn how to make something yourself, what would it be?” and the reply I got literally made me laugh so hard tears started to well up in my eyes. It was, and I quote, “Um, what would be ideal? First meal as a married couple? Meatloaf! Yum.” He’s such a sweetheart and it really made my day. But alas I won’t be posting a meatloaf recipe (despite the temptation, I do have a spectacular one). Instead I found an even more “ideal” project on the majestic pages of pinterest, my muse.

Wedding favors have ranged from those weird little dinner mints to extravagant packages, depending on budget of course. Not everyone likes mints, and not everyone has enough money to send their guests home with their own island or whatever it is Oprah has given out recently. But everyone does like candles, especially adorable monogrammed ones! This do-it-yourself party favor is perfect for smaller scale weddings, but might be a tad bit time-consuming. Honestly, that’s better than money consuming though.

You will need some regular paper, tissue paper, tape, sharpies or markers, a candle, wax paper, and a heat gun.

•    Tape the tissue paper (about the size of the candle) to a piece of copy paper. Ink will bleed through the tissue paper. Draw your design! After you finish the design, remove the tissue paper from the copy paper.
•    Next, cut out your design and put it on the candle. Cut away as much tissue paper as possible.
•    Now take a piece of wax paper that is larger than your candle. Pull it tight around your candle, and use your heat gun to melt the design into the candle.  Move the heating gun back and forth for about 30-40 seconds; be careful of your fingers!
•    After heating the entire design gently peel back your wax paper and make sure the design is adhered to the candle. If not, just repeat with the wax paper and heat gun.

If you don’t want to hand draw your design repeatedly, you can also print a design off the computer. Here’s how:

•    Very carefully tape a piece of tissue paper to a piece of copy paper, making sure that there are no edges and the tissue paper is completely flat.
•    Next, send it through the printer!
•    Follow the steps from process above.

It’s as simple as that my friends. The picture above is the simple final product of my first monogrammed candle! We all had a ridiculous amount of fun making them. Here’s hoping you do too.

Your hot and inked blogger,

Stephanie Baldwin