Hey Candle Friends!

Things are really heating up at OpenFlame! It's right in the big middle of summer, complete with 100 plus degree days and the nights aren't much cooler! But I've found the perfect way to beat the heat! We're starting to prepare for the Fall and Winter holiday season! We're launching new scents almost every day. I realize the poor website has been a tad bit neglected lately, but we're working on it, I promise!

We are still playing with Soy wax and have been fairly happy with the results, so we are now proud to "go green" and offer candles made from soy wax. I'm also proud to say I'm launching all my scents in Ember and Pillar form so you have two brand new ways to enjoy our candles.

I'm really excited about all of the new scents we've got coming out for fall and winter. I've also expanded my fruity scents and moved into florals as well. Some of the ones I'm most excited about are: "Mysertious Midnight, The Great Pumpkin, Happy Harvest, and Banana Bread" for fall, "Bless Us Every One, ...And to all a Good Night, Haul out the Holly, Bring on the Bayberry, It's Cold Outside, Cordially Cherry, and O Tannenbaum" for winter. These wonderful scents should round out the fall and winter holiday season nicely. We're also going to be offering gift baskets for the winter holiday season, and may branch out into Valentine's Day and birthdays as well as Christmas, but for now, we're just taking it one step at a time.

For all you crafters out there....how do you get geared up for Christmas when it's a million degrees outside? I listen to Christmas music and watch my old worn out DVD of my FAVORITE Christmas movie to get me in the spirit to plan ahead. I've already planned out my crafty presents and who they are going to. With candles it's a little easier, but I find it hard to get in the mood to prepare for the winter season while it's still hot, so that's why I play the Christmas Music mix on my iPod and play my favorite seasonal dvds.

We just bought a table saw last night, and I bought my very first Dremil tool today. This will make being crafty a LOT easier, since I mostly craft with wood. I'm really excited to get started on the new fall and winter ideas that I have, especially now that I'm listening to Bing Crosby croon Jingle Bells :)

What are some things you do to get yourself in the Christmas Spirit before Christmas time?

I've got to shove off now. There are so many things I've got to do, and I'm too excited to sit here on my laptop anymore!

Until next time Candle Friends!

 

Phew! things have really been heating up here at OpenFlame! (no pun intended! ). My little sister's wedding was beautiful. She made the prettiest bride I have ever seen, and her reception smelled amazing! There were several tables that alternated three (one of each of the sizes, so 1 3x3.5, 1 3x6.5, and 1 3x9.5) on a mirror base with tiny blue flowers and rhinstones, and a goreous arragement of yellow tulips, also on a mirror base with rhinestones. It took me the better part of three months to get all the candles made. She had a total of 30 pillar candles in three different sizes as I mentioned, she also had two different scents. She chose Everything's Coming Up Roses and our Peony based scent that we are having a hard time coming up with an awesomely cool name for .

I had a lot of fun and learned a lot while making these candles. So much in fact that I'm thinking about offering a custome candle service for special occasions such as weddings.

I called this post "The Post Wedding Crazies" for a reason! I thought I would be able to get a bit of break after the wedding, but it just hasn't happened. Doing all the candles for my sisters wedding got tons of positive feedback, and quite a few people have ordered since then. I'm really excited. It's very encouraging to see people react positively to your art.

As far as what we have been doing since the wedding.... I have been playing a lot with Soy wax. I've been relatively happy with the candles I have made from Soy. There are still a few kinks to work out, and some more to learn.... but I have some really cool ideas on some non traditional applications for it. I had this really great idea to make massage oil candles. I haven't started really researching it yet, but the theory is sound :)

Since 4th of July is coming up, we're going to be offering Star Spangled Glory candles (inspired by a good friend, and patriot, Leigh) which is a layerd candle of red, white, and blue and is lightly scented.

We're also launching the first of our Patriot Candle Series called The Hero of Saratogah, which is based on the battle of Saratogah that was a significant turning point in America's defeat of England in the Revolutionary War. for every candle we sell in  the Patriot Series, we are donating 10% to the Wounded Warrior Project. I feel it's a god idea to honor the men and women that made this country great, and to give back to the men and women that keep our county great. They have sacrficed everything for my freedom to do what I love. I have serveral family members both in and retired from the Service, and it's important for me to know that they know that I value thier sacrifices and appreciate all the freedoms they fought (and fight) for.

We are launching new scents all the time. One that I'm very excited about is Limealicious. It smells just like lime candy! I noticed a small imperfection in one of the Limealicious candles that I had in stock which rendered it unsellable...so I just had to burn it :) it was a chore, but, someone has to test them right? :)

The last Scent we launched was called Eucalypitcal, which was the soothing, clean scent of Eucalyptus, which we tweeked a bit. It's mellow and doesn't smell very strong in the jar, but once you light it, it's amazing. It's my top seller right now.

I'm also always looking for new ideas. So if you think of an awesome smell you'd like to see turned into a candle, feel free to let me know. You can always contact me through Facebook or Twitter.

I should really get going now. It was nice to be able to spend this time with you. I know I don't blog often enough. I'm hoping that as things slow down at the day job, things will get a little better.

Until next time, candle friends!

 

 

 

Good morning candle friends :)

I apologize that it's been so long since my last post. Things have been really busy here at OpenFlame. I had an order of 30 candles for my little sister's wedding, which is a week away, and so that has taken up a lot of my time. We are also doing all the bridesmaid's bouquets, groomsmen's boutonnieres, and non wedding party corsages! The bridesmaid's bouquets require spray painting white daisies Marine Blue. It has take up so much time, but I am so honored to be able to help out. I just finished the last candle. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all the free time on my hands! I am really proud of these candles, and it was a total learing experience. There were two scents, Peony, and Everything's Coming Up Roses made in three different sizes, 3x3.5, 3x6.5, and 3x9.5. I'm hoping to have pictures of all the candles up tonight. We're going to offer this service as Kelly's Custom Candles for special occations. My mom sent me the final draft of the wedding program to proof read, and it was really encouraging to see the "special thanks to OpenFlame Candles"

We have launched a Facebook storefront, so fans of the Facebook page can shop right there on Facebook. I'm really excited about that. We're also revamping out website with all new pictures that we are taking today.

We're also playing with Soy Wax. I've been doing research on Soy Wax and there are a ton of benefits like, soy wax produces 95% less soot than paraffin candles, it's a vegetable by-product, not a petroleum by-product, it's 100% American and supports American farmers, and, it's a renewable source that burns cooler than paraffin, and it burn cleaner and more evenly in the jar. Who wouldn't want a candle like that? :) So be on the look out for Soy to start cropping up in our jar candles. We have already started using soy in our Kelly's Vinyard Wine Collection and our Kelly's Cannery Jams and Jellies Collection, and I have been really pleased with how those candles turned out.

Well, I should probably get busy :). There are a lot of pictures to take today :)

 Thanks for stopping by!

I really do love my days off from my day job! It's been a really productive weekend in the OpenFlame Candles and Crafts world! We started off by moving my candle and craft studio from our workshop across town to our house, and spent most of Saturday getting it all up and running. I have been working on candles for my sister's wedding, which I am honored and pleased to do, but all the stuff needed to make the best candles possible was slowly taking over my kitchen...and it was getting really frustrating to have to clear up and move hot wax for something as trivial as making dinner! But now, I have a candle/craft making space that is all mine, except when I let Cody in to do our floral orders and wreaths for holidays. :)

Today, Cody has been working on some of the floral needs for my sister's wedding, and I was, as always, working on her candles, which are coming along nicely. But in-between working on the wedding candles, I was experimenting! I am proud to announce that we are launching a new candle scent called "Eucalyptical" which my Aunt Kathleen has been beggin me to do since the beginning;  and in case there were doubts, it smells like Eucalyptus. I also started playing with colors for my new scent "Camping Trip", which was inspired by my husband's uncle, Mike.  I also started playing with colors for my new scent "Fruity Fiesta" which was inspired by my long time friend Cari.

It's been a fun and rather relaxing day playing in the melting pot! Days like this are the reason I love days off, away from my day job! 

Thanks for stopping by to check out the candles and crafts blog at OpenFlame!! I really appreciate your patience as we slowly get the website built and all the content added. One of the perks of having a web designer for a husband is that I think my site looks great: one of the down sides is, since he's doing for free, paying jobs are the first priority! I can't really complain, because like I said, the site looks great, and it's going to keep getting better and even though we're slow in getting it on here, new candles are coming up all the time.

We are starting a candle of the month club, and I've got two new lines coming out. One is the Kelly's Vinyard Candle Collection, which is a collecetion of differently scented wine "flavors", if you will. In this candle line, we will be exploring the different types of wine, everything from Cabernet to Champagne. We got the idea after finding some pictures from our 3rd anniversary, where we went wine tasting in Altus, Arkansas. We had such a great time that we wanted to remember it in candle form. That line will launch in late May or early June.

Another new line that I'm SUPER excited about is out Patriot Series which singles out several American Heroes who helped make our country great, either by helping to draft our Constitution or fighting for our freedom in the Revolutionary War. Each candle is scented differently based on specific events in each hero's life. This line will launch in July, just in time to celebrate our country's independence. For each candle purchased, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Foundation to help support the brave men and women who serve our country in the Armed Forces.

And... I'm always looking for new ideas and new ventures to explore!! So don't hesitate to either leave a comment, find us on FaceBook or Twitter!