Digital Scrapbooking Hybrid Projects - Candle Wraps

Hi everyone! I'm so excited about some of the projects that my sister, Terri, and I worked on over the long, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend!  Terri has a huge, well stocked craft room with about anything you'd ever want in it!  We didn't even have to go shopping!  Before Terri started digiscrapping, she did a lot of paper scrapping and regular crafting.  At one time, Terri and my mom made some beautiful candles that I wanted to try.  Terri took a wedding invitation, scanned it, printed on very thin paper (which was very frustrating she said!), pinned the printed invitation to the candle, then heated it with her embossing heater.  It barely melted the candle and put a thin coat of wax over the invitation making it look as though it was embedded in the candle.  She put a bit of lace and pearls on the bottom, put it on a glass plate, and presented the bride with a gorgeous gift that she just adored!  We didn't do anything quite that fancy but what we did do turned out pretty nice I thought!

I just have to share! We will soon have a hybrid project gallery at Heritage Scrap along with a forum to share instructions and so forth, but I just couldn't wait until it all got *formally* set up!! hehehe  So, it's my blog and I'll blog if I want to, blog if I want to, blog if I want to - you would blog too if it happened to you!!  dood, dood, dood, do, da, dooo!  Whoops!  Sorry, gotta knock off all that singing!  Usually I'm shy about singing in front of people but y'all just bring it out of me!!!  hahahaha

Anyway.....  Our first attempt was with all paper.  I had this idea in my head for some time so we started with that - I wanted to try our five generations of mothers and daughters that I've done other projects with.  We were just going to put their pictures on varying heights of candles but then went with some coordinating background papers.  We put it all on with brads to come up with this:

We added some bows and put them on a plate.  I want to add a small bud vase in the back by Grama Grover with a single red silk rose and some greenery.  I also want to get some of those clear smooth glass stones to put on the plate for a little something extra.  The backs look like this:

Now, I really like these with the pictures nice and large and close up.  I love the papers and think that it will be really nice when I finish up with the displaying portion.  But when we were done, Terri looked at me and said, "I thought we were going to digiscrap these!"  Oh yeah!  duh!!  We ARE digiscrappers now after all!!!  LOL

So we came up with these:

Aren't they soooo pretty!!  That's my husband and I on the largest candle with our son and his girlfriend on the left side and our daughter and her boyfriend on the right side.  I wanted to make a votive cup sized candle with little Jake on it but Terri only had a blue one handy and I wanted white or maroon.  So I can add that later.  Terri had a clear, glass decorative plate to sit them on but they just didn't fit exactly the way I wanted them to.  She put her set on a mirror tile and it was beautiful.  So that's what I'll probably end up getting for mine too when I add Jake's candle.

They are so incredibly easy to make!   First you measure around your candle remembering to add some overlap room.  If you print on cardstock or some other heavier paper, you'll need a little more overlap so that it lays nice and flat.  If you use thinner paper, your overlap area can be smaller.  Then you measure the height of your candle, leaving room at the top and bottom for the candle to show some - maybe about a half inch or so but really just whatever you want.

These are the measurements you use when creating your canvas in your digital scrapping program.  Because you will be printing these, you'll need 300 dpi or higher usually.  I used my favorite Heritage Scrap kits to create my layouts and backgrounds.  For the back, I used a background paper that would give me plenty of room for that overlap area without looking funny because it doesn't align properly.

After creating your wrap in your scrapping program, print it out, cut it out, and wrap your candle!!  Use straight pins with small heads to attach them in the back.  You can also use brads, buttons, or whatever you like to decorate the candle but the straight pins give you a good, solid hold.

The rest is up to you!  Add what ever other embellishments you'd like - ribbons, bows, buttons, lace, patches, and such to make your candle your very own creation!  Display your single candle or a group like mine on a decorative plate, tile, doily, or just by themselves on the shelf.  Any way you do it, I'm sure you'll come up with a masterpiece that you and your family will cherish for a long time to come!!