Mod Podge and Tissue Paper Decorated Halloween Candles


I have been wanting to do some crafts with those great plain white altar candles they sell at Dollar Tree for ages, but it seems like every time I go to Dollar Tree, they are all sold out of them. Well not this last time.  I picked up 4 and set them aside.  I knew I wanted to decorate them somehow, but I wasn't quite sure with what.  Later that week, I was at Walmart picking up some necessities and came across this cute halloween tissue paper.  For starters, who gives "halloween gifts"?  Someone must because there was a little endcap with halloween gift bags and tissue paper, so I snagged up the orange and "Happy Halloween" printed tissue paper (it's Hallmark brand, so it may be available at stores other than Walmart too).


So I grabbed two of my altar candles and some mod podge and a foam brush. My first step was getting the darn sticker off of the side of the candle.  I filled up my kitchen sink with a few inches of warm water and they came off pretty easily, just some sticky residue remaining (thank goodness for goo gone). 


Next I used a scissors to carefully cut out squares of tissue paper that would wrap around my candles. I just laid the candle down and cut it about a quarter of an inch taller than I needed--I figured a little extra was better than not enough, I could always trim some off later. I made sure not to make the squares too wide, though, so there wouldn't be more than about a quarter of an inch or so of overlap.


I started by finding the seam in the glass candle jar to use as a vertical guide.  Then I painted on an inch or so of glue to get it started.  Make sure your tissue paper is started straight so it doesn't end up crooked on the top or bottom.  Once you have it started, it's all about carefully applying the tissue paper.


The tissue paper becomes VERY fragile once it gets wet with glue, so use just enough glue to stick the tissue paper on.  Carefully pat the tissue paper onto the glue (be careful not to rub it) and try to keep your fingers free from glue so that they won't stick the paper and rip it. Once you have the paper wrapped around and gently tapped onto the glue, let it sit for 15 minutes or so to set up.  You may be tempted to rub down the paper or press down bubbles, but just tap it into place and let it dry.  The less you touch the paper, the better.


After the glue had set, I trimmed the top edge of the paper down to the rim of the candle jar.  Then I brushed on a coat of mod podge to seal the surface and turn the tissue paper even more translucent. 


I let that dry for another 15 minutes or so and then put some black ribbon on the rim of the candle jar.  You could decorate with some glitter or dangle some halloween charms from the rim, but I was fresh out of both (well I had glitter--what kind of crafter would I be if I didn't have any glitter--but none that would coordinate with the colors of my tissue paper).


The candles were cute as soon as they were dried, but they were even more impressive when I lit the candles.  As the wax burns, the lights will glow through the tissue paper more and more!


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