It all started with a cat! A naughty cat? A curious cat? Maybe a mischievous cat? It's hard to say, but it was definitely a cat.
While I was at work, my cat climbed onto my dresser, which is very unusual since she knows that it's off limits. I think she was drawn to the little Christmas tree that I had set up there for the holiday season. While she was up there, she knocked a glass candle off of the dresser. The glass candle jar broke from the fall, but the candle itself was fine. This was the start of a big adventure!
The candle was a holiday edition, was already sold out when this happened, and was my absolute favorite scent, so I was determined to save it. I looked online for a new candle jar, but I couldn't find the exact size. After a lot of measuring and searching, I did find a similar size that would work, but those jars came in a pack of six. I purchased the pack of six hoping that my (now jar-less) candle would fit.
It turns out that the candle jars that I so carefully chose have a curved bottom inside of the jar which is not visible from the outside of the jar and was not stated in the online description. My jar-less candle didn't fit well at all because the bottom of the actual candle was not curved. I shoved my jar-less candle into the new jar, but no matter what I did, the top wouldn't fit tightly enough. This candle definitely needs a top because of the strong fragrance, so I used my candle warmer to melt some of the wax until the top fit the right way.
Now, I had five extra candle jars with tops and nothing to do with them. After some thought, I decided to make some candles to fill the jars. This started me down an extensive research and instructional rabbit hole into how to properly make candles. After several weeks of research and gathering supplies, my daughter and I made our first candles with 100% soy wax and candle fragrance oils (the white candle on the left in the photos). We only use candle warmers with our candles, so we did not need to add wicks at all.
Then we decided to try fragrance oil and color in a candle to use up some more candle jars, so the pink candles were made (on the right in the photos). Then I saw this cute daisy wax mold online that would work perfectly with a jar that I have had for a long time, so the decorative candle in the middle was made.
DISCLAIMER: The candle in the little jar in the middle is for DECORATION ONLY. I would not have added the beads and bow if this candle was going to be melted or burned. Candles meant for burning or melting should ONLY contain items made of WAX, since anything else is a fire and/or explosion hazard.
After making all of these pretty candles, the original candle that started this whole journey looked very bad shoved into its new candle jar. The solution was to melt that candle down and re-pour it into the new jar (not shown in the photos), which is ironic because if I had done that in the first place, I could have chosen any replacement candle jar and I wouldn't have ended up with six of them.
I did have fun making these candles with my daughter (her candles are not shown in the photos), so all of this was definitely worth it! I do have one more empty candle jar, but I have decided to save it in case my cat decides to repeat this little escapade of hers!