Over the last couple of months, Alexis and I have been busy “crafting” in our personal lives!  Lex sewed her very first baby blanket for a dear friend, and I stayed up late many nights finishing packaging homemade baked goods and banners, favors & flags for my (human) son’s birthday party.  I’ve never been particularly crafty but from time to time, I indulge in the fantasy that I could compete with Etsy’s finest (if only)!

My little sister Michelle has been talking about making candles for ages, and with my other sister Jenny’s aromatherapy-blending skills at hand, and armed with an all natural soy wax as well as glass jars – a great discovery I stumbled upon at the local farmer’s market – we set out to hand-pour our first candles.

Unlike most candles on the market, luxury or otherwise, ours are scented with 100% pure essential oils — it’s hard to find essential oil scented candles for 2 reasons: 1) essential oil scents don’t last as long as synthetic fragrances and 2) in order to make a candle “smell”, a lot of essential oil has to be used and essential oils are very expensive relative to their lab-created counterparts.

We decided on 3 “flavors”:  No.27 Lavender-mint, No 12 Golden Amber & a grassy herbaceous scent that we decided to call No.21 Verdura.

As it turns out, the most challenging part, aside from blending the scent, was ensuring that the wick stayed in place and was centered and straight through the candle.

For a finishing touch, I created a simple label because part of the fun is in the packaging!

Here are some photos of the finished product: