Holiday Candles

By: H. Iacobacci-Miller

Tis the season......we've all noticed the abundance of holiday decor flooding the stores already. Why not get into the spirit of things with festive holiday candles? Yes, they can be pricey, but this easy project can save you money and allows you create one-of-a-kind holiday candles for any season. For the Christmas season, you can spruce up your candles with poinsettias, holly leaves, snowflakes and other Christmas designs.

What you will need:

• Tissue paper (keep in mind your theme, you will likely need red, yellow, and green for Christmas themes). Also remember that some tissue papers come with designs like wreaths that you can simply cut out, making the project even easier.
• Solid colored pillar candles (white or off-white allow for more variety)
• Decoupage medium
• Paintbrush
• Acrylic paint for accents (ex., to create veings in holly leaves)
• Craft Scissors

How to:

• First, you can find patterns for holly leaves, poinsettias, Christmas trees and more via the internet. Either trace a pattern onto the chosen colors of tissue paper, cut out your own patterns or cut out the shapes from tissue paper that already has the designs.
• Cut as many shapes as needed to decorate your candle(s). It's up to you how much design and color you want.
• Position your shapes onto the candle and b rush the decoupage medium over the designs to adhere them to the candle(s).
• Allow to dry and then brush the entire candle with the decoupage medium.
• Allow candle to dry completely before adding any painted accents like the addition veins on holly leaves or bulbs on Christmas trees.

This is a simple project that anyone can do and it is great for sprucing up plain candles for any holiday season.