Our Hopeful Home: Shabby Chic Stamped Candle How-To and An Announcement (or two)

August 31, 2011

Hello friends, I can't believe it's Wednesday already. Today I have an elegant shabby chic DIY project that I'm delighted to share with you ~ stamped candles!

But first I must give credit where credit is due. I initially saw this project on a blog called The Polka Dot Closet. Carol is amazing with her flea market finds and thrift store re-dos. You have to go and visit her. (Tell her I sent you!) Thanks for the inspiration, Carol! As soon as I read about them, and how e-a-s-y they were to make, I knew I had to make ~~lots~~ some! So here we go!

MATERIALS

plain, light colored candle (for maximum contrast with your stamped graphic)

plain white tissue paper (like for putting in gift bags)

rubber or acrylic stamps of your choice

ink pad

wax paper

hair dryer

sisal, twine or jute, ribbon

decorative elements like charms, etc.

Here's a peek at what I used.

Okay, are you ready for this? Stamp your stamp(s) onto the tissue paper. Cut out each image, all the while staying close to the image so as not to leave a lot of excess white paper around the outside. Position the image on the candle where you want it to go. Wrap over the image and the entire candle with a sheet of wax paper, wax side down. Make sure your sheet of wax paper is long enough to go all the way around the candle and then some, so that you'll have extra paper to hold onto at the back of the candle while you're heating the image on the front of the candle.

I put my hair dryer on high heat and I'd say it took no longer than 5 minutes for each image to fully bond onto the candle. You can pull the wax paper back gently to check on the adhesion progress. (I recommend this, since if you overheat it, the candle wax will begin to melt!) I'd also say not to try drying more than one image at a time. Once it appears done, gently peel off the wax paper. And voila!

You can see I embellished the candle even more by tying some sisal around it with a vintage crucifix. You could let your imagination run wild here. Some people actually paste their tissue paper onto 8 1/2'' by 11" card stock, run it through their printer, and print their graphic directly off of the computer! I'll have to try that next. I just keep thinking what great gifts these babies would make......Christmas, birthdays, teacher gifts. The possibilities are endless! I do hope you like them.

AND NOW FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENTS!

I'm on Facebook, people! (I know, I know, hell must have frozen over.) I'm thinking that since I broke down and FINALLY joined the rest of the world, the least you can do is drop by my Facebook page and "LIKE" me! Pretty please? I mean, a girl's gotta start somewhere! And I'm thinking once I get a few "Likes" I'll announce another GIVEAWAY! Just click "Like" on my Facebook button in my right sidebar, right underneath my Google Friend Connect gadget. Who knows, I may end up actually having something interesting to say over there....

Finally, don't forget to join in on Tuesday's Club G.W. with Charm Bracelet Diva Party going on here. I could use some more expert thrifters! Come out, come out, wherever you are and SHOW US YOUR JUNK! (And I say that with all the love in the world, really.) By the way, where did you think I got those awesome just right patina'd (not a word but I'm using it anyway) candle holders? Bingo.