adventures in candle making.

this year for thanksgiving, i had a little get together with some of my friends from highschool.

we don't get a chance all that often to get together, and so i thought thanksgiving would be the perfect time!

 

 

whenever i have a little party, i always make party favours. i think it's just because i loved getting them so much as a kid, i feel like, us adults should have some fun too :)

so! i wanted to give gifts that were cozy, and would help keep them warm for fall & the coming winter.

i wanted to try to use hand made things, because handmade is always better.

i opted to have my grandma knit a few pairs of slippers for me in fall colours,

i cannot knit. (yet!)

and so i decided to make some candles to go in the boxes too.

 

i've seen so many times tea light candles, and have always wanted to do something like that,

but alas. on a recent trip to the reuse centre

(in burlington, if you don't know it - find it. it's a gold mine)

i couldn't find any fall coloured tea cups, or mason jars, but what i did find i think was even better.

fall mugs!

 

originially i had wanted to use beeswax, but since i was on a tight timeline,

i didn't have time to find a good source, and michael's is just too pricey sometimes.

so i opted for soy wax. and it worked wonderfully.

 

 

even though it was microwaveable, i didn't want to melt the wax like that.

most of what i remember from watching my mom make candles when i was a kid,

is standing around watching the wax melt on the stove.

i'm a sucker for tradition, and sometimes i feel like doing things the old fashioned way,

makes the end result better.

 i used a make-shift double boiler with a fireking bowl i picked up at a thrift store.

 

it was a slow, slow melting process.

 

 

once the temperature reaches 165 (follow package directions) the wax is melted, and you can add your colouring. since it was my first time, i opted not to use any colouring.

i poured a small amount of wax into each mug to set the wick in the bottom,

and waited for the rest to cool before i could add the scent.

 

 

i chose vanilla, because i figured it was a safe bet. if i get into the habbit of making candles,

i will probably experiment with different scents. :)

once the scent was added, it was time to fill the mugs!

in hindsight, i should have bought one of the pouring containers... 

will make sure i have one next time! likely so much easier!

 

 

after that, it was just a matter of waiting for the wax to cool and harden.

i left mine for over twenty-four hours before i trimmed the wick and took off the tape.

and viola!

 

 

i'm so happy with the way they turned out :)

it was super easy to do, and they smelled so good!

will definitely be making some more soon!

 

until next time.

 

adventures in canning.

i started this blog (or at least had the intention of starting this) almost five months ago! sort of as a way to help keep myself on track with the different creative tasks i continue to start and yet hardly ever finish... so, here it is!

ever since i was a kid i have loved canned peaches. my great grandma used to make them every year and it was always like a little treat we had every time we went to visit.

 

she was so lovely. a lot of my love for different vintage items stems from the fact that they just simply remind me of her. aluminium cups, pyrex & floral prints & those crazy fibre optic plants that you kept in a glass case that kept changing colour.

 

but the peaches. oh the peaches were always one of my favorite things. and i think they always will be. after my great grandma (her name was Olive. i'm pretty sure it doesn't get better than that) passed away, any time i was lucky enough to come across a can of peaches from a friend, it brought me straight back to being ten, wearing my stretchy pants watching the sound of music and sifting through all of her old cards. (like me, she never threw them out).

so, i had always been on a mission to learn to can peaches. until this year, i had never known anyone willing to teach me the tedious task & i suppose was never willing to venture it on my own. but alas, i have finally done it! and it really wasn't so bad. just time consuming, but most good things are :)

getting the peaches was probably the best part. it was the Winona Peach Festival, and i figured there was no better place to get peaches (more on this later).

 

fairs are one of my most favorite things. rides, crafts, food!

 

my friends convinced me to go in the starship 3000 or whatever it's called and im pretty sure it was one of the most terrifying rides of my life. i totally didn't believe when my friend turned to me and said 'you're feet are going to lift off the ground soon'. and then they did. for way too long.

after the rides we enjoyed some peach sundaes, wandered the crafts and the. headed out. now for the peaches. i bought 10 liters of peaches and i am so disappointed! most of them were super bruised and only half usable. i think they were just way too ripe. and the girl that was putting them in the bag for me steered me in the wrong direction to make me think they would be the most wonderful canning peaches. after that disappointment and near meltdown was over the next day, the canning began.

 

 

after the first couple peaches we tried to peel we realised it was easier to cut them in half before blanching them so that we could get some half decent slices.

 

 

 

i didn't get as many pictures as i had hoped for, but really once you get going its hard to stop.

so proud of my peaches. even if the cans are not totally full, they are totally delicious and i think Olive would have been really proud. :)

 

 

i think the only problem i may have with this blog is the photos. these are from my iphone.

i use mostly film these days, so i may have to break out the digital for blog-related projects.

anyways!

until next time...