I love candles and spend many a winter night surrounded by their beauty and warmth. Often with just the candlelight and no electric. And of course my stash comes in handy when the electric goes off, which is does occasionally out here in the boons.
I take care to have all the candles safely contained and have collected many candle stick holders made out of metal and glass over the years.
Every so often I head out to the thrift stores to restock my supply. I made a trip yesterday to the Lebanon, PA area. For some reason Lebanon and the surrounding small towns have a wealth of thrift stores so it is very easy to make a bunch of stops. I had great candle karma yesterday. My candle stash has increased by 115 candles!!! I favor tapers because they give a lot of light and I only get unscented because many candles are made with such cheap perfumes. I used to faint in church as a kid from the heady mix of everyone’s cheap colognes and perfumes!
I made a particular great score at the Humane Thrift store in Lebanon. I had a basketful of great stuff. Linens were on sale and I found two pristine crochet edges Martha stewart cotton tablecloths for $4. I also found skeins of wool yarn, stickers for my granddaughter, wooden knitting needles and great cooking pot in a size I didn’t have for a fraction for what I would pay for these things at a regular store. At the bottom of my basket was a slew of candles! There must have been 30 of them. When the woman saw them she said, “how about if I give you the whole lot for $1”. How’s that for luck?!
Stick Um candle adhesive is one product that I couldn’t live without when it comes to candles. It’s a sticky wax and if you have a candle that is a little small for your holder (this happens often with tapers) all you have to do is put a tiny ball of the stick um on the bottom of the candle and voila! the candle is secure.
Enjoy the light!
