I have to admit, I’m not a crafty person… AT ALL! I don’t own a glue gun. I barely own a pair of scissors.
However, when I saw this post for crock pot candles I was very intrigued. I love candles, but I rarely buy them.
I either forget, don’t like the smell coming from the jar or am afraid of having to keep the fire department on speed dial. Still, these crock pot candles intrigued me.
I thought to myself “What a better gift than candles for all the girls in my life that I can personalize?!” So that’s exactly what I did.
Here’s how I did it:
- 4 ounce canning jars (sometimes referred to as jelly jars)
- microwaveable soy wax
- wicks with bases
- essential oil of choice for smelly candles (I used cinnamon), optional
- dye of choice to color candles (I used red), optional
Start by breaking up your wax into small, manageable pieces. You want to make sure that it will fit into the jars without overflowing into the bottom of your crock pot as it melts. You are also going to need more as the melting process goes on… so chop up more than you think you’ll need.
Now add wax to each jar and place the canning jars in the bottom of your crock pot so that they aren’t touching. I was able to fit 6 jars into a 6 quart oval crock pot perfectly.
Put the lid on the crock pot and turn to high. Check back in 20 – 30 minutes to see if the wax has completely melted. Add more wax to the jars and let melt completely. You may have to do this a couple of times to get the candle to the level you want the jar filled too. Just make sure you’re adding the solid wax VERY CAREFULLY to the jars because you don’t want to burn yourself with the hot wax.
I actually used wooden skewers to “press” the solid wax down into the hot wax.
When you’ ve got the candles as full as you’d like them to be you’re going to add your essential oil. Depending on how strong you want the candle to smell, add 10 – 20 drops (I added 12 drops of the cinnamon to mine). Using the same wooden skewer slightly stir the melted wax so that the essential oil can be evenly distributed.
Once you’ve done that add any dye to color the candles. I made some red and left some white. Just add a few drops of the dye and stir until you get close to the color that you want. The dye will get much darker as the wax sets up.
Carefully add your wicks making sure you center them well. I found that the wicks with bases stand up very well, so I didn’t have to worry about them being crooked or falling over. **NOTE** Sit the wick into the jar before starting this process to make sure you have the right length of wick sticking up that you want. If you don’t (or if you forget like I did) it’s no big deal. You can trim the wick when the candles are completely set and finished.
Leaving your crock pot uncovered, turn it completely off and let the candles set up. This will take a few hours, so don’t be alarmed. Don’t remove them from the crock pot to do this either. As the crock pot cools the wax will begin to set. I actually left mine in the crock pot for the remainder of the evening and overnight before removing them… just as a safety measure so I wouldn’t mess up all my hard work :o)
When completely set add the lids to the top of the jars and print or make a nice label to stick on the front of each jar letting your gift recipients know what they’re getting. You can even adorn the lid with a ribbon or a festive piece of cloth secuted with a pretty ribbon.
This was super fun and Miss Maddy enjoyed helping (to a 4 year old breaking wax and cutting ribbon is a HUGE help (o: ). These are going to be great as individual gifts or as additions to some gift baskets we are putting together. I will definitely be doing this again. 
**NOTE** All of these supplies were easily found at the craft store. If you can’t find them, don’t be proud… ASK!
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