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Yesterday I posted the honey cake recipe which so many of you requested so it’s only fair I guess that I share a quick how to on making your own beeswax birthday candles.  You ask for it 🙂

We usually make the birthday candles for the upcoming year on Candlemas though making them on someone’s birthday was definitely fun.  We forgot to make one for Matthew last winter.  So simple really and even the little ones can join in.  You only really need a few things, beeswax, string for the wick, a container to melt the beeswax in and a skewer to help dip the wicks.

I use an old jam jar.  I think it came from some organic strawberry jam purchased at the store, it is tall and skinny so you need less beeswax and when you are done making candles you can just put the lid on the jar and keep the leftover beeswax until the next time you want to make some.

Shall we get started?

First, chop up your beeswax in small pieces, the smaller the faster it will melt.  I shave some off my big block of beeswax with a knife.  Put the glass jar or can inside a small pot with enough water in it to cover up to the level of the beeswax in the jar.  Heat it slowly until the beeswax is all melted.

Cut your wicks a few inches longer than you want your candles.  Tie the wick end to the end of a skewer.  I have these neat little loopy things which make dipping easier but skewers will work just fine.

Dip the wick in the beeswax and let it sit for a minute for the first dip so the beeswax really gets into the wick.  Pull it out and with your finger, carefully (its hot) pull it down and hold it so that it dries straight.  Do this with all the wicks.

Now comes the fun part.  Dip the wick in for a few seconds, longer than that and the beeswax melts off and you get no where.  Pull the wick out of the beeswax and let it drip and dry for a minute or so.  Repeat until the candle is the thickness you want it.  Hang it and let dry.  Once dry, cut it off of the skewer and leave enough wick to burn on the top of the candle but not too much.

Enjoy!

I’ll be back tomorrow with Livie’s finished crocheted tunic!!  See you then.

Oh, I simply cannot believe it.  Tomorrow, my little Matthew will be a year old.  I. really. can’t.

I am in the middle of making Mateo’s birthday crown for tomorrow and as usual, I waited until the very last minute.  I meant to get it done earlier but my life has just been so crazy!  My emotions seem to be very close to the surface in the past few days with tears flowing for almost any reason.   Tomorrow we will cut him a little cake with just us to sing for him and his birthday party is being moved to the 28th so that his sister Alexandra can be there too 🙂  Later today, I will be dipping a beeswax candle for his birthday cake and crying some more I am sure!

This next week is going to be nuts with a tiny celebration for Matthew tomorrow, guitar lessons for some of my boys,  visits to baby Lewie and more packing plus my mom and dad will be here on Friday and then our little Lewie will be baptised on Saturday.  Oy!

And just in case we didn’t have enough to do yet, I had to take my van in today because the lights are not shutting off and it keeps killing my battery.  I took the birthday crown with me to work on.  I was given the bad news that our mechanic cannot fix it since the piece needs to be programmed at the dealership so I drove over to the dealership and got the wonderful (not!) news that it will cost almost $600.  Sigh, big sigh!  Anyhoo, I am sure you didn’t come here to hear my bads news so let’s move on shall we?

For now I will just concentrate on Matthew’s big day tomorrow and not on the negative right? Yes, that is what I shall do!  Oh and I will go on over to Nicole’s and peak in on the other crafters who are posting over there today 🙂