Easy Holiday Gifts

Welcome back, my friends! I keep hearing, “We may have to cancel Christmas this year because of the supply chain.” That’s crazy! You can’t cancel Christmas just because you may not be able to buy the best and latest gifts. In fact, I think having a supply crisis may be the best thing to happen to Christmas. Remember the old days, when people made gifts for each other? Or just being together was the best thing about Christmas? Or when kids received a penny and an orange in their stockings and thought they had the best Christmas ever?

Honestly, if I just see my family over the holidays, it’s the best ever. Maybe it’s time we stopped making Christmas so commercial. And maybe I’m just getting old. I remember about 20-25 years ago my mom saying the same thing.

I’ve been thinking about things I can make for my family and friends this year. It may not be the “main” gift for each of them, but it’s something from my heart. I’ve been making refrigerator magnets, tree ornaments, and more to give to family and friends. Here are a few of the gifts I made today.

When I first saw the Ever Eden Cotton Paper and Eden Dies in the Eden’s Garden Collection, I thought there could be candle possibilities there. I haven’t done “stamped candles” in years, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t resist. The cotton paper is perfect for this!

For the Eden Candle in the center, I simply used the Eden Dies to die-cut greenery and the border image from the cotton paper. Then I melted them into the candle using my heat gun. If you haven’t done this, it’s so easy!

Stamp your image as I did with the Celebrate Sunflowers and Butterfly Brilliance candles on tissue paper. I used Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, then colored the images using Stampin’ Blends. You can color with any medium you like. Just be careful, because the paper is quite thin and the ink can bleed. If it tears, simply smooth it out; it will be fine once it’s melted into the candle.

Next, die-cut or use Paper Snips to cut the image. I die-cut the butterflies and the Eden greenery, and used Paper Snips for the sunflowers. If you’re cutting with Paper Snips, try to cut very close to the image. It also helps if the tissue paper you use is close in color to the candle.

Lay your tissue paper image on the candle; I worked in sections using one image at a time. Wrap the candle with waxed paper. Tear a piece long enough to wrap all the way around the candle with several inches left at the back to use as a handle to hold the candle. Then use a Heat Tool to melt the stamped image into the candle. I roll the candle over my Silicone Craft Sheet when I’m finished melting, to smooth out the candle wax.

Remove the waxed paper, then add another cut/die-cut piece, wrap with waxed paper and heat. Continue this process until all the tissue/cotton paper pieces have been melted into the candle. Easy!

All of my candles have images all the way around, so I had to heat three times for each candle. It only takes a few minutes; I made four candles in less than 30 minutes today – and that included the stamping, coloring, and cutting.

To keep the candles for a long time, I burn them until there’s enough of a “well” burned into the wax to add a tea light candle. That way, you’re only burning the tea light, not your stamped candle. You can also add a battery operated LED candle as well.

What ideas do you have for making presents this year? I’d love to see your projects! Stay tuned for my other gift ideas in the next week or so.

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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