Custom Printed Candles

I originally started printing candles in 2009 when I printed the logo I created for our wedding onto our unity candle set {see photo below}. These images and/or text are heat printed into the wax of the candle ~ not a vellum overlay. I sell them on my business website (www.SerendipityBathElixirs.com).





It blossomed into many unity sets for other couples, baby announcements, and now memorial candles.





My first memorial candle was created this past April when my husband's 105 year-old maternal grandmother passed away. I created a large 4x9 ivory candle with sepia tones for my Mother-in-Law and her sister.



And this sweet one as a gift for my church's (denominational) District Superintendant, whose wife passed away after a long three year battle following a devastating car accident. Somehow I forgot to take a photo of the candle, but still have the artwork I created prior to printing. It was a black and white image on a white 9-inch pillar.



Dr. Berry loved it so much, he shared it with his Griefshare group at our church. One was ordered as a gift (black and white on a white candle) and another ordered by a Griefshare group member. This one was printed in Sepia tones on a marble ivory pillar. The acrostic on the backside encompassed his name and her feelings about him. He gave up his life in order for three passengers of the plane to live. A real hero!







I offered a discount to the Griefshare group. I feel blessed to play a very small role with their healing journey. While many choose not to burn the Memorial Candles, some choose to burn them as they say a prayer of thanksgiving on the anniversary of their loved one's passing or their loved one's birthday. It is whatever works with the healing process, and everyone is different with that.

These are some of the other items I've been busy with, which is part of why I was MIA for a bit. And... my sister, Kathi, and I have a store on Etsy. It is an eclectic mix of vintage and antique items, a lot of which came from our parents' estate (SILVER from the 1940s and 1950s!). The site is: www.GRITSgirlz.etsy.com.I created our shop banner and avatar and GRITS ~ because she and I are Girls Raised In The South!

Joy to you and yours this holiday season,

Oh By Gosh, By Golly... It's Beginning To Look A Little Jolly

Sorry to be MIA so long. Between the sinus infection that just won't go away and the holidays, time has slipped by. I was so on top of Fall and the decor to go with it and now way behind on posts for Christmas. Forgive me for that. There are so many cute posts all over blogland right now. I'm going to link up with The DIY Showoff at the bottom. Be sure to pop on over and view the fantastic blogs showing their craftiness this holiday season. Grab your favorite cup of coffee or tea and join me for a whimsical tour of our condo decked out for the holidays. I have no doubt I'll be re-arranging things up to Christmas Eve (except for the hearth and table), but you can see what I've done so far. This year, it is very whimsical.

It has been way too cold in Atlanta this December and we had icy conditions during rush hour last night, shutting down many of our highways and stranding commuters for hours. I was trying to be a good samaritan to one of our neighbors who is single. She turned into our parking area (we are in a condo community) and where you turn, it's sharp and it follows a hill. The ice was too much and she slammed into the curb. Thankfully, she was OK and a neighbor moved her car for her, but in my quest to help her, I stepped off the grass onto the asphalt and yep, you guessed it... my feet went out from under me straight up in the air. I landed on my backside and hit the back of my head. Today, I'm very stiff and moving around like a 90 year-old. I'm on pain meds, icing my head, and heating my back. The ice has thankfully gone away today. My doctor has said I most likely have a very mild concussion. Good grief, Charlie Brown! On with the post...

While I have not posted as I decorated, I have been working on a few projects. One project is a repurpose. I purchased 3 small waxed pumpkins around Halloween. Because they are waxed, they last so long. I painted the stems gold, painted the pumpkins with green acrylic paint (only Christmas color I had on hand) and added red bows. My 3 pumpkins are now 3 "ornaments" for display. Below are the Before & After...





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Here's one on display under our entry table. I also spelled out "Merry Christmas" with Scrabble tiles on the table. Purchased the game and all tiles for $2 at a recent thrift store visit with my sister, Kathi. No worries, my three pumpkins (um, I mean ornaments) will be tossed after the holidays.



Onto Reveal #2. It's simple and anyone can do it {just like anyone can paint pumpkins}. I took a 3-inch white pillar candle and some Christmas rub-ons. I did not know if rub-ons would work with the wax, but they did. I also added a rub-on (Ho, Ho, Ho) on another candle (no photo yet for that one). Here it is...





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And now our Mantel. Well... Our entire hearth, actually. I decided against re-using the wine bottles I used {remember my earlier post about them and they spelled out THANKS?}. I used 3 cylinder candle vases (the ones I used in the fall with the leaves and LED pillars). I found some sheet music online (O Holy Night), printed it landscape on vellum sheets (use fast draft setting to print on vellum and let dry), wrapped around each cylinder, and took glitter foam letters that spell J-O-Y. I decorated our garland with ball ornaments, put Christmas lights in the fireplace :), and set up the 2 pre-lit (white lights) porch trees my husband bought me on each side of the fireplace. I added blue lights since I had them already from a small group retreat.I told him it was my nod to his family's team, UNC. His alma mater is actually Auburn (War Eagle!). Our 3 stockings were also hung (we bought a matching one for our dog, Kiley, this year). No big tree for us (there's no room in our condo, really) and less for me to put up and take down. :) Notice the rub-on white pillar on the left side of the mantel?



And a close-up shot of the candles...



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Here's what I did for our table. Simple. Some tapestry placemats with a snow couple that say, "Let It Snow", white flour sack napkins, candles of all types, a Publix S&P shaker snow couple, a vintage santa & tree S&P set from my hubby's paternal grandmother and the table is set with her china and glasses. From the chande, I put candy canes and a few silvery ornaments hung from it (not in photo). I also decorated the top of our corner cabinet.



Ignore the gift bag behind the table. That thing tempts me everyday. It's for me from dear hubby. We have yet to move it with the other presents for family. My card writing stack is on top of the stool that I should have cleared prior to snapping the photo. :)



The coat closet doors even got decorated. I could not get far enough away for a full shot. I have 2 felt bags with snowmen hanging from the doorknobs. We are into snowmen, can't you tell?!? ;)



Our Sunroom even has a few added touches. A die-cut rustic reindeer over the door and the candlescape has three pearl candy canes hanging from the three candle sconces...





A few random chairs have been decorated...

The director's chair that holds a few blankets and some pillows now holds Snoopy, the Grinch, and Rudolph, too. Also provides extra seating, if needed.



And the rocking chair that my husband's AU blanket rests on is now holding 2 snowmen, Cupid (reindeer) a felt Merry Christmas bag and a girly Santa hat.



I even decorated my husband's toy chest from childhood (holds a few seasonal books and seasonal table linens now)...



And I love this cute little 14-inch rug I found at Target on the cheap. Where to place...where to place...



I'll add more photos when I finish the breakfast bar (it's a crafting area at the moment), our coffee table, and the chairs in the sunroom that my gift wrap supplies are blocking. :)

Thanks for reading my post and following my blog! You make me smile with your sweet comments and e-mails every time I open them. May your holidays be merry & bright...

Help a Stranger
Praise a Child
Light a Candle
Share Your Love
Sing For Joy
Lend a Hand
Pray For Peace
Understand

Here's my link-up list:



May our Savior's love fill your hearts with joy this Christmas Holiday & always,

Fall Flowers From My Hubby...

Isn't he just the sweetest thing?!? For no reason at all, other than surprising me. Gorgeous fall colors. Yes, that is a vintage It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! book behind the flowers. I had it on display on our coffee table in October.



Be still my heart...

More Thanksgiving/Fall Decor

I know, I know. In my last post I wrote that I would not be making more fall creations. I just could not help myself with the following as they were easy and I already had the items on hand. :)

A simple cornucopia for one who does not own one. I made it with a 12"x12" sheet of scrapbook paper. Just rolled it into shape, stuffed with basket stuffing from the local Dollar Tree, grabbed a few acorns out of the yard, added 3 little cork pumpkins and beaded pumpkins and gourds. Done. It will sit on our uncluttered breakfast bar, which is now uncluttered but not at the time of this photo. :)



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The next reveal is what I did with wine bottles I had on hand. Friends give me their bottles to sterilize for the bath salts I make. I chose to use these for candleholders. I used leftover metallic bronze paper leftover from our wedding invitations, punched some fall hued scrapbook papers, used bronze metal letters to spell out T-H-A-N-K-S, tied skeleton keys with jute cord. I've since added candles and I'm deciding if I like the bottles filled up with beads or left unfilled. I think the beads help the wraps pop a little. If I burn the candles, the jute cord and keys are coming off as the wax would coat them as they melt. Just an FYI if you choose to do the same. It's all held on with double-sided tape except the letters are secured with glue. Below is the picture before I added the candles.



Here they are lit up (still not all were filled at the time of this photo, but you get to see them with the candles lit). The filler for the remaining ones is the same as the other bottles that are filled.



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I plan on re-using the bottles for Christmas and making wraps for the bottles in Christmas colors and spelling out M-E-R-R-Y.

I'm linking up to The DIY Showoff...



Keep it simple, keep it crafty, keep it fun, keep it fabulous!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Ya'll!

I feel certain this is my final fall tutorial. ;S For 2010, that is. I started in August, after all. I have 2 tutorials below. They are easy peasy!

Fall Candlescapes that I will use through Thanksgiving...

I simply took what I already had and threw it together. This project used (3) 7.5" cylinder vases from Dollar Tree (these were used in our wedding as well as a baby shower I co-hosted this month for a dear friend), (3) LED 6" pillar candles. These were a gift from a dear friend for our wedding {even better that they are vanilla scented}, fall leaves (I think I purchased a bunch at Publix for $3, which you can also find at the craft stores), fabric fall leaves that I double-side taped onto the LED pillars. No worries, it will come off like a charm. Once inside the vase, I inserted 3 of the fall leaves from the bunch. I used LED pillars because I won't have to worry about the leaves catching on fire and I can simply pull each pillar out to turn it on. Piece of cake! Below are Candles 1, 2, and 3. The final reveal is after the pumpkin tutorial as I took pix of both together on our mantel.





Now for the Pumpkins... I'm not big into Halloween Decor so I mainly decorate for fall and Thanksgiving. However, for those of you out there who decorate for both, this tutorial is still applicable. I bought (3) pumpkins from Dollar Tree. They were ugly, and I mean ugly. I originally wanted to prime them and paint them Heirloom White so they would resemble all those white pumpkins I've been crushing on since last year. Well, I just did not have it in me to do all that spray painting before or after the shower I co-hosted earlier this month. I had sprayed one as a test with Oil Rubbed Bronze (ORB) but it was too black for what I wanted. I started painting another one in a cream acrylic paint. Not feelin' the love... Then it hit me ~ I love my Metallics acrylic paint in Rich Espresso Brown. Why not paint them with that? To get a good base, I painted them first with Patio Paint in Chocolate Brown. Below are the pix with the 3rd pumpkin being the only one that had just the Patio Paint and Metallic Paint on it. The others had ORB & cream acrylic paint on them first.





And now for the reveal... No, I don't plan on leaving the pumpkins here as they don't really fit but it works for the sake of snapping a photo. Nice streak on the bottom of our mirror that I need to wipe down again. :) The only thing I don't like about how they turned out is you can see a line in the middle of each one where it was in its mold. I'm thinking some ribbon will take care of camouflaging. You get what you pay for, but they are cute nonetheless. You cannot tell the candles are on since it is daytime but they are cute, too.



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I'm linking up to Hope Studio's Tutorial Tuesday! You can view this and other fabulous tutorials on their blog.


I'm also linking up to Sugar Bee's Take a Look Tuesday, too. Check out all the other bloggers on her site, too.


I'm also linking up to "Toot Your Horn Tuesday" at The Silly Little Sparrow's blog.

I'm linking to "The Halloween Pumpkin Parade Party" at the Fabulous Under The Table & Dreaming blog.




Also linking to the Fall Festival at The DIY Show Off. Another fabulous blog with so many creative bloggers.


And finally... Sister Sister Sunday @ Kuzak's Closet So many delicious things on this blog.

Sister Sister Sunday

Remember... Keep it simple, keep it crafty, keep it frugal, keep it fabulous, & keep it fun!

A Shower of Blessings...

A few weeks back, I posted 2 tutorials related to a baby shower a couple of us threw for our dear friend, Emily. She is having a boy. We kept it simple and even made the food ourselves {OK, Suzi made most of the food as that is where her giftedness is ~ she is a gourmet goddess in my eyes ;)}. I made the decor and Denise made sure we had the clubhouse secured and helped us both with the set-up. So fun!

Here are some follow-up pictures related to this post , "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star...Do You Know How Loved You Are?" Here are the altered canvases I made with sweet Noah's monogram and nursery colors...






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Here are the vase wraps and "B-a-b-y B-o-y Lollipops" in the vases with greenery...









Special thanks to my sister, Kathi, for letting me borrow her tiered server. It was originally gold as she bought it in the 90s, but I sprayed it Titanium Silver for her and for the shower, just wrapped blue ribbon around it and added the white bow. The tablecloths were queen size Ralph Lauren bed sheets in chambray and chambray and white stripe that hubby had on hand from his bachelor days. They look fresh ironed on on the tables. All of the serving pieces were items Suzi and I had on hand. Blue plates were from my wedding so of course, they work for a boy's baby shower. :)

We had a yard sign printed for the entrance to the clubhouse on the left side...



And on the right side, "Lollipops" that spell out Noah's name with scripture stickers on the bottom of each letter...



Vases that were on the drink table holding lemons and sweetener for the coffee spelling out "b-a-b-y". I also had 2 square candles infront of the centerpiece on the food table with the same design but on blue vellum and they spelled, "n-o-a-h".



I found this idea out in blogland on How Does She. The guest blogger is Heidi and the Tutorial is featured on this link. These paper pom-poms are made from mini and standard cupcake liners. They reminded me of some of the lamps at IKEA and Anthropologie...



Here is one pictured here:


and another one pictured here:


Thanks for spending time with me reminiscing about the shower and fun DIY projects. All photos, unless linked elsewhere, are mine. I don't mind you linking or referencing to them, but please give credit where credit is due. Thanks!

Remember, keep it simple, keep it crafty, keep it lovely, and keep it fun!