Today I bring you a lovely little Christmas crafts idea – homemade scented candles.
Upcycling Baby Food Jars
A couple of years ago we were feeding Big Miss ready made jars of baby food after the complete failure that was baby led weaning! So of course we went through quite a few jars – at least 3 jars per day so as you can imagine, our recycling boxes got quite full with these cute little glass jars. After throwing a few out (recycle I must add), I thought that there must be something I could do with them….. and so I came across the idea of making some simple homemade scented candles.
After some research I bought my ingredients from 4Candles (and if you’ve ever watched The Two Ronnies you will have a giggle at the name!).
Ingredients
- 800g of wax – there are different types of wax that you can get but because this was an experiment I didn’t chose an expensive one
- mix bag of coloured wax – because I needed some red wax to make my candles festive
- mulled wine extract – to give the candles some festive smell
- wicks
Also needed
- an old (but clean) saucepan
- a wooden spoon (a plastic one will melt)
- a funnel (trust me on this one!)
- small jars
- ribbon
- superglue
Method
1) Ensure your jars are clean and as neatly as you can, superglue your wix in place in the middle of the jar
2) Measure out 400g of wax
3) Melt the wax and add some of the coloured wax and two droppers of the mulled wine extract – if you want a deep red colour then you need to add in more than I did. (Be careful – the mulled wine extract smell is very strong when you do this and if you’re susceptible to smells (or asthmatic) then I suggest you wear a mask)
4) Once the wax has fully melted – the mixture should be clear – pour into the jars
5) Leave to cool for a couple of hours and be careful not to disturb the jars whilst they cool otherwise the wax might split
Now this is the decorating part and is completely up to you…. but here’s what I did
6) Once your jars have cooled, cut off any excess wick
7) Measure out enough ribbon to tie around the middle. I made my ribbon so it was flat against the jar. However you can make it into a nice bow if preferred. Also I used some wrapping paper ribbon to make a swirly bow around the rim of the jar
Et voila! Homemade scented candles! Told you it was simple huh?!
