I went to Pier 1 on the weekend. It's one of my favourite places to shop any time of the year for gifts and for myself. They had these really nice "peppermint candles. They were red and white stripes and would match my upstairs Christmas decor perfectly. They were really pretty, but they were priced at $15 and $25 and scented. I couldn't justify that cost for something I'm going to burn and I don't like the heavy scents. So, I thought I could make my own. How hard can that be?
I always have lots of Ikea candles around. They burn beautifully, are unscented and cheap. The little ones are about a $1 a piece and the large ones are about $4. I had red glitter still on hand from the ornament project and what good crafter doesn't have lots of glue and tape on hand?
I took some painters masking tape and wrapped it around the candles. I wasn't too particular about placement. I just tried to make it even.
I painted the white parts with Mod Podge. I used Mod Podge because it works as good as glue, and it was easier to get my brush in the top of the bottle. I didn't feel like squeezing out the Tacky Glue into a bowl or fussing with it. Mod Podge was quick and easy.
After I painted the candles with MP I put out a piece of parchment paper about as big as the bigger candle. I poured out some red glitter and rolled both candles in the glitter. While the glue and glitter sets up a bit, I folded the paper into a point and poured the left over glitter back into the container.
Then I carefully pulled the tape off over my garbage can so I didn't have any clean up afterward.
And voila! Unscented red and white striped Christmas candles for less than $10. They actually cost me nothing because I had everything on hand. And the whole thing took about 10 minutes!Aren't they cute?!
