Dressing Candles Up for Christmas

I found some beautiful white embossed wrapping paper the other day at Hallmark. I bought it to use for gift wrap, but upon closer inspection, I knew it was destined for something more noble than just that. I have covered candles with purchased handmade paper before, and it turned out really well. So I decided that this paper would work to cover candles for my dining room table. My fine china is white with gold trim, so I thought it would look nice to lightly paint the paper with gold metallic paint. The paper is so pretty that it could be left unpainted, but the paint does help to bring out the design.

Michael's is a great source for nice, inexpensive white pillar candles in all sizes. First, I rolled my candles onto the wrong side of the paper and drew out the measurement. Then I cut out the size I needed. I covered my work surface and used foam plates for my paint and my glue. The paint I used was some I already had, but an acrylic paint would be fine. Elmers Glue or a sticky craft glue are both fine as well. I used a foam brush for the paint. The MOST important thing to remember is to use a very DRY brush. Dip it into the paint and then use paper towels to blot it almost completely dry. Then, paint across the high, embossed spots very carefully. Play with it until you get it to look like you want it to.

Allow to dry, then brush the back with the glue and apply it to the candle. I also glued on some gold trim that I already had on hand.

This is how they turned out. The whole project probably took me about an hour and a half. I will show how they look on my table in a later post.