Good Morning everyone!! Can you believe that there are only 53 days left until Christmas?!!!
With this in mind, our Challenge this week is :
CHRISTMAS INSPIRED
You can create anything inspired by christmas OR leave us any tip!! Our tip this week is how to create a Christmas Candle!
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Hi Top Tippers,
It's me Carol, and it's my turn this week to share a Top Tip Tutorial with you. I'm sure many of you have made these gorgeous candles before but I still get asked quite regularly how to do them so thought I would do a little write-up! If you've done one before how about leaving a Top Tip that I've missed!
As usual we have some amazing prizes up for grabs again this week...
Prize 1 - The Crafty Pad - 2 Digi Images
Debbie at The Crafty Pad Stamp Designs said:
The Crafty Pad Stamp Designs is proud to sponsor Top Tip Tuesday. I own and run The Crafty Pad Stamp Designs. We offer a variety of both polymer stamps and digi stamps. Weekly challenges are held at The Crafty Pad Blog.
The Crafty Pad Stamp Designs is proud to sponsor Top Tip Tuesday. I own and run The Crafty Pad Stamp Designs. We offer a variety of both polymer stamps and digi stamps. Weekly challenges are held at The Crafty Pad Blog.
Prize 2 Fred She Said $20 voucher!
Tracey from Fred She Said says:
Fred She Said Designs offers a wide variety of digital products with a floral flair and cute characters too - Digi's, Pre-coloured images, Papers, Sets, and Fred's Flower Kits. Have some fun with Fred!
My name is Angela and I own Sew Many Cards. I have a husband, an almost 10year old daughter, a two year old son, and a dog/puppy: Hershey. The images of Sew Many Cards came from a dream that my husband had of a group of animals that were "SEWN Together" with patches and stitching, hence the name, which he also came up with. You will find that every image in the. Sew Many Cards collection has patches and stitching, even the ones that are not animals. I love to draw and almost every image is either an inspiration from my family or a request from my great customers and design team, so please ask if you need something specific or would like to request something be made. You can contact me at angela@sewmanycards.com.
Right then, on with the show...............................................
What you will need...
Candle, Candle Base, Tissue Paper (plain tissue paper from a stationery shop), Tape, Card (carrier), Colouring Medium of your choice, Scissors, Glue Stick, Greaseproof Paper (some say waxed paper but I use Greaseproof from the baking section of the supermarket), Heat Gun, Cotton Wool and Image.
Tape tissue with the smooth/shiny side up, to the carrier card (I've changed card colour
from 1st photo so it would show better!). Tape all the way along ALL 4 sides.
from 1st photo so it would show better!). Tape all the way along ALL 4 sides.
If tissue has creases in it, iron it 1st!(it really does make a difference)
On to this tissue print chosen image & sentiment (print onto draft paper 1st to check placement of printing on page and size of image against the candle).
Sentiments are often better in a grey, as black is more prone to ‘bleed’.
Add colour to the image whilst still attached to carrier sheet – be very gentle with colouring, which ever medium you decide to use, I often print 2 or 3 as I regularly mess up here!
Take the tissue off the carrier card and cut image and sentiment out in one piece, cutting quite close around the image. It is easier at this stage to cut the image out rough first – this gets rid of the excess tissue and any remaining tape – giving you more control to cut more intricately. It’s best not to leave any sharp ‘corners’ – these can be more difficult to ‘melt’ into the candle.
Using the smallest, gentlest of dabs, add a little glue stick to the reverse of the tissue image.
Place image on the candle ensuring it is smooth. The advantage of adding the glue stick is you can make sure the image stays where you want it.
Take a piece of greaseproof paper about twice as 'tall' as the candle and 30cms (ish) long. Fold the paper in half along its length (so it is now roughly as wide as the candle is tall). I used to just keep folding the paper till it was the right 'height', but have since worked out it's better to have only 2 layers of greaseproof. Wrap the folded greaseproof around the candle, ensuring it is smooth. Where the ends of the paper meet at the back, make folds in towards the candle – this will keep the greaseproof tight around the candle and act as a ‘handle’ for you.
Top Tip – before you start wrapping the candle with the greaseproof, make 2 little marks on the base of the candle showing where each ‘edge’ of your image is…hold the centre of the greaseproof up to the image and draw 2 lines on the paper to depict the image area. Use this as your guide when melting.
Holding the ‘handle’ very tightly use your Heat Gun in smooth vertical sweeping motions over the designated area. Do not hold the gun in one place. Aim the gun AWAY from your hand! You can hold it quite close but do it for no longer than 1 minute.
Careful ‘unpeel’ the greaseproof from the candle – ideally it won’t need much peeling, if it does you may have ‘melted’ for too long! Check all areas of the tissue edges have ‘disappeared’ into the candle (it there is still a section visible, re-wrap and re-melt that area). Whilst the candle is still warm use the cotton wool to ‘buff & smooth’ the image.
Done!
When giving these as gifts or via orders I always add a little card saying something like…. “This candle was made especially for you for decoration purposes only – it is not designed to be lit.” You may feel this a little over cautious, but that’s me!
You can do these candles with anything you can get onto tissue paper – rubber stamping, digi images, photographs….ideas are endless! You can even use peel offs and gems.
You may have to make a couple before you are really happy with the results – especially when using your printer – the amount of tissue my printer has chewed is no-ones business – hence the tape on all 4 sides now!
If you have any questions, or I’ve not quite explained a section well enough, PLEASE SHOUT…I’ll answer any questions through the comments section.
Thanks for popping over to Top Tip Tuesday this week and I can't wait to hear your tips or see your Christmas Creations!
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Christmas Creations from the DT
New DT Member Vee - Welcome hunnie!!
New DT Member Leigh - Welcome to the team hun!
Aren't they just gorgeous?! We can't wait to see your creations for our Christmas Insired Theme or to read up your wonderful tips!
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You can either enter a card, altered art, scrapbook page - anything at all OR you can leave a tip OR you could leave both!!! If you want to leave both, please ensure that you put your link to Inlinkz twice so that we don't miss you!
We all look forward to seeing your creations or tips!!
