The Queen's Inkling: Candles, Candles, Candles By Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink

I’m turning one! (I know; I look a lot older…)

Hard to believe, but I’ve been the resident designer for The Queen’s Inkling since July 16, 2016. It feels like just yesterday that Patti welcomed me, but here we are, 52 weekly projects later.

My mother taught me that it’s important to write thank you notes when you’ve received birthday gifts, so here goes:

Patti –

Thank you for keeping me on, for giving me the amazing gift of total freedom to design whatever I want.

Lolly –

Thank you for all your hard work behind the scenes, formatting each and every post.

And for each of you -
Whether you are a subscriber to the Inkling or an occasional visitor, thank you most of all! It’s a privilege to be invited into your homes and hearts. I appreciate your comments more than you could imagine. You have given me a very special gift, your enthusiastic support, and I will do my best to continue to earn it.

TIME TO CELEBRATE

No celebration would be complete without cake and candles. Wish I could deliver a cupcake to each of you, but since I can’t I can do the next best thing. I’ll deliver CANDLES, CANDLES, CANDLES.

Each one begins with rubber stamps from RubberMoon’s Stampstracts 2 sheet, shown just above the supply list at the end of this tutorial. None of the stamps are candles, but there are many flame- and wax-like shapes. I stopped at ten, but I know you’ll find more ways to mix and match once you get started.

Here are the ten candles, stamps only:

And here they are again, with fine nib pen lines and dots added, plus the words ‘happy birthday’ here and there, and a pop of color to help explore the endless possibilities.

YOUR TURN

Practice stamping candles on inexpensive paper until you are pleased with the results. Or stamp onto ATC-size pieces of cardstock right from the get-go.

Add whatever lines and doodles your eye tells you to add.

Get out your favorite coloring medium. Or several. Color!

PROJECT IDEAS

Stamp candles in a random manner to make gift wrap or background sheets for card fronts and scrapbook layouts.

Stamp onto patterned papers and do some paper-pieced candles.

Use fabric inks and stamp onto napkins that can be used for many occasions! (Be sure you pre-wash the napkins to remove sizing. This is an important step so don’t skip it.)

For birthdays or anniversaries, accordion-fold a long strip of paper and stamp a candle on each panel, equaling the recipient’s age or number of years of marriage. (The widest candle shown is 2” at the base, most of the others are no more than 1.5”, not including the handwritten sentiment.)

Alternatively, create a long scroll from shelf paper or brown wrapping paper and let the candles touch or overlap - a better choice if the occasion calls for a LOT of candles!!!

Get the kids in on the act! They’ll take one look at Stampstracts 2 and come up with more ideas in an hour than most adults would have in a lifetime…

TIP: Don’t forget to check out Stampstracts 1. Lots of images suitable for creating candles, and lots of fun to mix with Stampstracts 2.