Striped Chocolate Cherry Valentine Candles

My family thought that these striped chocolate cherry candles smelled divine when they came home. They were disappointed when they realized I wasn’t actually baking any sweets though!

For this project I used about a half pound (230 g) of premixed container soy wax. Then I split that in half so that I could add different scents and colors to each.

Half a chip of brown and red candle dye went into each once I took the soy wax off the burner. Then, I added the candle fragrance. Next time I’ll probably go heavier on the brown dye. Chocolate fudge and cherry seemed to suit Valentine’s Day, so I used about a teaspoon of each scent.

This soy wax doesn’t need to be heated above 150 F (65 degrees Celsius) and it’s so much easier to clean than paraffin wax. Other benefits are that it sets fast and holds more fragrance. I only had to wait for about twenty minutes for it to set enough so that I could pour the second color to create the candle stripes. In keeping with the Valentine’s Day theme, I finished by gluing a red heart rhinestone to the candle holder.

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As the year comes to a close, you might be thinking about things you want to do, or do differently, in your life in the next year, and your crafting life should definitely be part of whatever resolutions or goals you set.

I feel like one of the most common goals for crafters of all varieties, not just cross stitchers, is to be more organized. Earlier this year I shared a post about organizing cross stitch supplies, and in the vault you’ll find ideas for storing embroidery floss in particular, as well as this post about how one cross stitcher uses a Caboodles box to keep her projects contained.

You might also want to finish projects that you’ve started but abandoned in the past, or to let go of some things that you know you’ll never finish (if you need help decluttering your craft supplies, I’ve got an ebook to help!).

Making more time for your crafts is another good goal, and may be especially important if you’re trying to avoid the news or social media. Start small, with scheduling in an extra 10 or 15 minutes a day, or declare that after supper is craft time, or whatever you need to do to hold that time for yourself. Doing something like a 100 day project is an easy way to commit to working on a craft regularly.

Another resolution you might consider is learning new skills or trying more difficult projects. I’m guilty of staying in the beginner zone when it comes to cross stitch for a really long time, but writing about it here has inspired me to try bigger, more colorful and more difficult projects, which is the challenging kind of fun. If there’s a project you’ve always wanted to do but were afraid to try, make this coming year the time you do it.

And if you are still learning the basics of cross stitch, check out my learn to cross stitch guide over at Our Daily Craft.

Do you have a cross stitch related resolution or something you want to learn this year? I’d love to hear about it!

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