Spring/Easter stamped candle

Happy Thursday!  Today I'm sharing a simple, yet awesome, project that you can adapt for any holiday or occasion -- a stamped candle!  This is one of the projects we made in our recent stampers' hostess club.  It was, by far! the most popular project.  So, without further ado, here is what we were creating!

Those little bunnies on the candle on the right, are a new little single stamp called "Ears to You" that is available only through March 31st -- check out my website to see how you can aquire this adorable little stamp!  On the stamp, there is the words "Ears to You" under the bunnies, but I separated the words from the stamp so I could make it a little more versatile.  For the candle on the left, I used stamps from the new set -- Secret Garden -- available in the new Spring catalog.  It also has a set of matching framelits that you can use to die cut all of the images.  Lovely set with many possibilities!

To make the candle, start with a sheet of white gift tissue.  Ink up the image of your choice -- for the bunnies here, I colored the different bunnies with markers to create a triage of color.  For the flowers, I used several different ink colors -- Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Wild Wasabi, and Real Red -- and stamped the images in a line on the sheet of tissue paper.  Now, cut fairly closely around the margins of your stamped tissue images.  Lay your stamped tissue pieces over you candle in the location you want them to be.  Drape a sheet of waxed paper over your images/candle and wrap the ends of the waxed paper to the back of the candle and hold the ends together tightly with your hand -- try to be sure there are no wrinkles in the waxed paper covering your stamped images.  Now, take a heat gun and gently heat the images through the waxed paper -- you will start to see your stamped tissue images melting into the side of the candle.  Heat just enough to melt the images in.  When finished, gently peel off your waxed paper -- if a couple spots weren't all the way melted in, replace the waxed paper and re-heat a little.  That's all there is to it!  So simple, but so versatile!  Think Christmas gifts for co-workers, decor pieces for a themed party, holiday decor, etc.

For the base of the candle, I used a strip of Pool Party or Primrose Petals card stock -- 11 x 1 1/2" and a coordinating 1" strip of designer paper from the More Amore dsp pack from the Spring catalog.  I punched the top edges of the card stock with the scallop trim border punch, and attached the strip of DSP over top.  I then adhered the entire piece to my candle using sticky Strip.  Some ruffled Pool Party ribbon and Primrose Petals stitched satin ribbon completes the look.

Hope this inspires you to create your own lovely Easter centerpiece!  I put my candles on a long narrow tray with sparkly Easter egg filler around them.  They look stunning, if I must say so myself.:)

Sale-a-bration is almost over -- ends on March 22nd -- so if you haven't gotten your Sale-a-bration FREEbies yet, be sure to hop on over to my website and see what you can get for free this year -- a free item with every $50 purchase -- AND, in addition, a free pack of silver glimmer paper with a $150 or more purchase.  Whoo Hoo!  LOVE that silver paper.

Have a wonderful crafty day!

Support West Valley School PTO!

I am once again, doing a fundraiser for my son's school -- this time with a fall theme! :)  I love fall colors, so coming up with some trendy fall projects was easy AND fun!  Here there are!

The stamped candle uses two of my favorite stamp sets -- French Foliage and a new set from the Holiday Mini -- Hand Penned Holidays.  The script in this stamp set is so elegant!  For all the details on making the stamped candle, visit this link: http://stampedwithflair.blogspot.com/2011/04/stamped-candle.html.  For the top of this candle, I applied sticky strip around the top and dumped the Champagne glass glitter over top.  Then I rubbed it in real good to keep it from flaking off.  (Use gloves and a sheet of scratch paper to avoid cutting yourself. :)
The pumpkin card is super simple, yet I love the way those pumpkins pop!  Stamp the vanilla panel with the swirl stamp from Baroque Motifs, then emboss some strips of pumpkin pie card stock with the square lattice and the snow burst embossing folders -- rub your pumpkin pie ink pad across your card stock to ink up the embossed design.  Punch out three ovals from each design -- using the large oval punch and the (now retired) small oval.  Layer the pieces to make a cute little pumpkin!  To make the stems, first punch a small oval out of some chocolate chip card stock -- now center the larger oval over the top of the punch out, and punch -- so you have an oval "frame".  Cut the oval frame into sections to use for stems.
AND, the wine tag has also had it's debut in "blog spotlight" -- see all the details here: http://stampedwithflair.blogspot.com/2011/09/wine-and-dine-in-fall-style.html.  For this one, I used Pumpkin Pie card stock, Old Olive 1 1/2" striped ribbon, and the Medallion stamp set.  I used the Boho Blossoms punch to add some little flowers to the center of the Medallion, and the Blossom Petals punch for the leaf.  Finally, I added some sparkly Dazzling Details glue to the edges of the Medallion to give it that extra pop!  It's really beautiful in real life.

So, save the date for Sat, Nov 5th at 10 am to make these beautiful projects and support West Valley School!  The class will be held in the library at WVS, and the class fee is $15.  See my meetup group for all the details: http://www.meetup.com/Flathead-Valley-Stampers/events/35714232/ All class fees as well as any profit from SU merchandise purchased, will be donated to the school.

Stamped Candle

Simple, yet stunning, project!  We will be making this at my next class -- the Mother's Day Paper crafting/School Fundraiser class at West Valley School.

To make this, start out by stamping the Ornate Blossom stamp in Cherry Cobbler ink on white gift wrapping tissue.
Trim around image
Lay image on candle in the location you want it to be
Take a sheet of waxed paper -- large enough to wrap to the back of the candle with room to grab the "tails" firmly in your hand on the back side of the candle
Make sure there are no wrinkles in the waxed paper covering the image, and that it is holding the image firmly in place.
Heat image with heat gun until you start to see it melting into the candle -- it will go from looking white and tissue paper like, to more shiny and darker in color
Continue heating until entire image is melted into the candle.
Peel away the waxed paper and embellish image with Pearl accents.

To make the bottom look more decorative, I punched the edge of a 1 1/2 x 8 1/2" strip of Cherry Cobbler card stock, and adhered it around the candle with Mono Multi glue -- the stuff with the green lid, making sure my "seam" was in the back.  I then tied a sash of white organy ribbon around, and embellished it with a monogram letter -- from the "Lovely Letters" alphabet.  Put it in a pretty little organza bag, and Ooh La La! what a lovely gift for your mom this Mother's Day!