Just before Christmas, I wrote a post about ideas for homemade Christmas presents. It was at that point that I found Rebecca’s beautiful tutorial over on Really Pretty Useful for DIY scented candles and I did a little squeal of excitement because I am obsessed with scented candles but they are SO expensive. I was thrilled at the prospect of saving about £30 each time I buy one and there is no easier way of instantly lifting your home than burning a beautifully scented candle.

I hope you will find this as exciting as I do and even better news – they are so ridiculously easy to make. Thank you also to Helen who saw my homemade Christmas present post and made her own candles (see the post for a picture of her candles)  and told me about The Soap Kitchen, which is a great place to buy essential oils and fragrances for candles.

You will need:

Soy wax flakes (£3.16) – I bought 800g of the EcoSoya CB-Xcel flakes and this was enough to make 5 candles in the 220ml jars that you can see in my pictures.

Tabbed pre-waxed wicks (£2.05 for 10) – As Rebecca says in her tutorial, getting tabbed wicks is very important as they are a lot more stable.

Jars (£8.95 for 5) – I bought Weck tulip jars just purely because I love the shape. However, any old jam jar, tea cup, sugar bowl, kilner jar, sea shell, egg shell will do and make sure you save scented candle jars that you have bought in the past as you can easily recycle these.

Fragrance or essential oil (£2.35 for 5ml) – I chose the Fig Tree fragrance, which smells wonderful but it is quite subtle. If you want to spend a bit more and want a stronger scent then choose an essential oil.

Scissors

Saucepan (with a lip is preferable or you may need a funnel)

Wooden spoon

I spent about £16 in total but if I had used jam jars it would have cost only £7 for five candles. Amazing!

To do:

1. To work out how much wax you need, pack your jar quite tightly with wax flakes – you will need double this amount for each candle.

2. Melt the wax flakes on a low heat in a saucepan, preferably one with a lip as this will help later when you pour it into the jars. I did it in two batches. Don’t be worried about using a decent saucepan as the wax is natural and washes out with washing up liquid very easily.

3. Add your fragrance or oil once all of the flakes have dissolved. I added about 2ml of the fragrance per candle (just roughly speaking). If it smells overpowering, this is ok. Remember, you have a couple of candle’s worth of wax in your saucepan and when you burn your candle only a small amount of the wax will melt and release scent at a time.

4. Carefully pour the wax into your jars. If your jars have lids that you want to use fill up to a couple of centimetres from the top so there is space for the wick to fit under the lid.

5. Allow the wax to cool in the jar and when it starts to become cloudy and thick, which can take 15-20 minutes, push the tabbed wick in to the centre of the candle. Make sure the tabbed end makes contact with the bottom of the jar and hold in place for a few seconds until it sets in the wax.

6. Allow the wax to cool completely, preferably over night, before you cut off the top of the wick about 1cm above the level of the wax.

I think you will need to experiment with scent combinations and intensity to find the right one for you. If I hit on any winners I will update you as I’m pretty sure I will be making candles forevermore. If you need me, I will probably be making more – I am totally obsessed!

Katy xxx (extra kisses for Valentine’s Day)

I don’t allow sugar in our house because I gave it up years ago so poor old Jules can feel a bit deprived at times. This Christmas I made him gingerbread syrup for his coffee, which he loves, and for Valentine’s day I have made him the sweetest (and easiest) chocolates in the world. I used to work with Shannon, who is from Texas, and every time there was a cake day, celebration or end of year party you should have seen the delights she would bake, make and decorate. What I liked best was when she made a typical American recipe like the Oreo truffles I want to show you today. I don’t think I even knew what an Oreo was before Shannon made these truffles but it was before I had given up sugar so I can remember how good they were. They are perfect for a quick homemade present, to make with your kids or if you need an intense sugar hit – they are seriously sweet and rich.

I made the chocolate box extra special with some customised wrapping paper from Wrap.me – yes, that is my face plastered all over it. Jules, you had better open this present carefully! This is such a great product and so easy to create. All you have to do is hand pick photos from your Facebook, Instagram, computer or phone that you want to feature on your wrapping paper – it’s so much fun going through old photos. I went through my Instagram account and chose the really cheesy ones of me and Jules, made them all black and white and uploaded them to the Wrap.me site – a really, really simple process. You can choose up to thirty different photos and, of course, you can have as much colour as you want to. Wrap presents or buy a roll and do a little craft project like making a notebook cover (a two metre roll only costs £9.99).

I had to get a photo of Otto in (obvs) sporting a dashing comb-over courtesy of my hair. In fact, I may have to create a whole roll of Otto wrapping paper – he’s got his own hashtag on Instagram so I’ve got plenty of shots to choose from (true fact – look up #ottoorme!).

Order your photo wrapping paper from Wrap.me.

But now back to the chocolates. Here’s how to make them…

Ingredients:

To make approx 12 truffles

1 pack of Oreo biscuits

80g of full fat cream cheese

Melted dark or white chocolate (use dark if you want to tone down the sweetness slightly)

Decorations or leftover cookie crumbs

Recipe:

1. Blitz the cookies in your food processor to a fine crumb (keep a few crumbs to one side for decorating the truffles).

2. Add the cream cheese to the blitzed cookies and combine well so that you end up with a firmish dough – you don’t want it to be too sticky so add the cream cheese bit by bit.

3. Roll the dough into small balls, place on a tray covered in grease proof paper and put into the freezer for at least 20 minutes.

4. Melt your chocolate over a bain marie. Pop a ball onto the end of a kebab stick and spoon over the melted chocolate until it is covered and allow any excess to drip off. Place back onto the grease proof paper and decorate with anything you fancy or the leftover cookie crumb before the melted chocolate hardens. Refrigerate for at least one hour or until you are ready to gift them (or stuff them all into your own gob!).

Cake decorations are so on trend at the moment as I managed to get edible ‘copper crunch’ and ‘blush glitter’ to decorate my truffles 😉 I also covered an old Christmas bauble box with some Mini Moderns wallpaper to create a chocolate box.

I hope you try and enjoy the recipe and thank you to lovely Shannon for the idea.

All packaged up and ready for Valentine’s day – just hope Jules doesn’t read this post!

Katy x

P.S. For more great ideas from some of my blogging friends for how to use this photo wrapping paper pop over to our shared Pinterest board…

I really hope you liked my Styling the Seasons post this month. The styling is based around the theme of love and the letters I will be writing to my loved ones for Valentine’s Day. I usually send shop bought cards but this year I decided to go one better and make pretty floral and gingham fabric envelopes with fabric I was sent by Laura Ashley.

If you would like to make these sweet gifts yourself, they are a really quick and easy sewing project and you can’t go far wrong.

What you will need:

Envelope template

Two pieces of fabric exactly the same shape and size as the envelope template (if you are using light weight fabric you will also need interfacing, but I used medium weight cotton). I used Laura Ashley’s Clarissa print, pink gingham, scarlet gingham, and Geranium print.

Pencil

Fabric scissors

Pins

Needle and thread (or fabric glue)

Iron and sewing machine

To do:

a. Draw around the envelope template with a pencil on to two pieces of fabric (one piece will be the lining and one piece for the outside of the envelope).

b. Pin the two pieces of fabric right sides together.

c. Sew the two pieces of fabric together and leave a 5 cm gap so you can turn it inside out. Once you have turned it inside out, press and slip-stitch the gap closed (or use fabric glue).

d. Fold your envelope back together using the template to help you. 1. Fold the two sides of the envelope in and press. 2. Fold the bottom of the envelope up and press. 3. Fold the top of the envelope down and press. 4. Your envelope is now nearly complete.

e. Slip-stitch the sides of the envelope to the bottom so that the folds are secure. You can do this using fabric glue instead of stitching it – just pop a piece of paper in to the envelope so that the glue doesn’t seep through. Finished!

Have you got any lovely makes planned for this month? I have seen some amazing Valentine’s wreaths that are simply beautiful. Pop back next week for a super quick homemade chocolates recipe that I will be making for Jules (poor boy never gets to eat sugar as I don’t let in the house so I like to treat him occasionally!).

Don’t forget to visit the Laura Ashley blog on the 10th and 11th of February to vote for your favourite Styling the Seasons blog post to be in for a chance to win a £50 voucher (and don’t forget that I am your favourite blogger!!).

Katy x