stamped candles and candle holders

Tonight I want to show you some of the stamped candle holders I made as well as some of the stamped candles. Both projects were a lot of fun. The candle holders were just stamped with stayz-on ink and the Season of Joy set fr0m the Holiday mini (I cannot believe this set may potentially retire tomorrow!) What an easy way to dress up a plain glass votive holder! For those of you who want to try this at home, here are some tips.

1. When the ink is still wet you can take the stayz-on ink easily off the glass with just a piece of tissue or paper towel and rubbing alcohol. This may also work after the ink is dry, but I haven;t tested it.

2. After the ink dries it is safe to gently wash the piece with water. A little mild detergent probably wouldn't hurt either. However, I would advise against scrubbing the piece or using any cleaner with alcohol in it. The alcohol and scrubbing may both rub off the image.

3. When stamping on glass the surface always seems slightly curved (even on the square votive holders) so it's sometimes hard to get a good impression of the whole image. I found that applying even pressure over the whole stamp helps. With smaller stamps I also had success with stamping using a modified version of the rock and roll technique. Basically I set the stamp down on the glass and then kind of roll it on its outer edges to get an all-around impression. You have to do this very carefully to make sure the stamp does not move from its central location as this will smear the image.

I know this sounds confusing -- it's one of those things that would look a lot better on a video. Much easier to show than describe.


4. Smaller stamps are better for stamping on curved glass surfaces, like this clay pot shaped votive holder.





So now let's move to the stamped candles. I used the Big on Christmas as the main set for all my candles. My favorite had the let it snow sentiment on them, because I adore snow and snowflakes.

As you can see, I added snowflakes all around the candle. The snowflakes are from the bold snowflake jumbo wheel. Very cute and since they're not holiday-specific, the can stay out all winter long!

I also stamped some candles using the Noel stamp.

To decorate the back I used just the ornaments, stamped and colored in by my mom! My mom really has been invaluable in helping me get all of these things done in the last two weeks. And she will be with me at the craft fair too.

The craft fair, by the way, will be at the west campus of Lake Park high school in Roselle, IL. to get there you take either Lake Street or Irving Park Road to Roselle Road and then turn west on Bryn Mawr (the only way you can turn). Go about three blocks and the high school is right there on the corner of Bryn Mawr and West End. The fair will be in the Field House and my mom and I will be in booth 38. Hopefully I'll see some of you there!