Tea Cups: Life After the Candle

Whew!  It's been a busy few weeks!  The Holiday Arts and Crafts Show season is here, and it will continue to be slightly overwhelming (in a good way) right up until Christmas time.   I have been spending every spare moment shopping for unique tea cups, ordering supplies in bulk, fending off tea cup candle copycats (haha... that's another story in itself), and of course MAKING CANDLES!

Maybe it's because I always have tea cups on the brain these days, but I have been seeing tea cups used for decoration and small item storage pieces EVERYWHERE I look.  From jewelry dishes to business card holders, I love how decorators are working these vintage pieces into their designs.  Which brings me to my point: What can you do with your tea cups after your candles have burned?

So, I thought I would take the opportunity to show you some of the photos I drew inspiration from.  But before I get to that, let me first add this sidenote.  All my tea cup candles are made with all natural soy wax.  Soy wax is non-toxic and burns slower, cooler, and cleaner than paraffin wax.  That means, once your candle has burned down, it is safe to use as a tea cup once again.  All you have to do is pull out the wick and wash with soap and water.

Now on to the pretty.  Of course, the tea cup candle is the BEST way to use vintage tea cups.  Maybe I'm biased, but hey, Martha Stewart approves!

Check out the unique jewelry display below.  What a pretty way to store your earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings!  I love how they mixed and matched patterns here.

How about tea cups as vases or flower pots?  This would be perfect as a centerpiece to a small table.  My friend Kate has planted succulents in her vintage tea cups, and they are beautiful!  

Ok, this would take a little more handy work, but what a conversation piece for tea cup lovers!  I personally think this would look good in my kitchen, since that is my "candle making studio".  Also because of the fact that some people refer to me as the "Tea Cup Candle Lady" now.  I guess that's a good thing..?

And hellllo Pinterest.  I could see the photo below being repinned several times.  Again, the mixing and matching of patterns and colors is so charming.  What an easy way to spruce up your kitchen!  Just a few hooks, and you're done!

And here is that beautiful business card holder I mentioned earlier.  This is my go-to idea for showing off my business cards at Arts and Craft Shows.

Of course, if you can't imagine your tea cup being anything but a candle, I can help you with that too!  I re-fill tea cup candles for only $10.  If you have a special tea cup, maybe a family heirloom or a piece of your own china, I can make it into your own unique tea cup candle.  Since my grandma doesn't know what a "blog" is, yet alone how to use a computer, I know this secret is safe:  I found some tea cups in my grandma and grandpa's original china pattern at an antique store the other day, and I plan to make the tea cup into a candle for her for Christmas.  Perfect!  I know it will be special to her.  I would love to help you create your own special gift for your sweet grandma, mom, aunt, sister.... and the list goes on.  

Thanks to www.allputtogether.com for many of the pictures used in this blog post.  Check out their inspiring website!

GIVEAWAY: Countdown to College Football

Ok, so we're less than a week away from the start of college football.  I. can. not. wait.  But my husband can barely contain himself.  In fact, he spent Sunday afternoon with a couple of his buds finishing a set of cornhole boards they built themselves.  Tailgating, here we come!

In the spirit of college colors day, which is this coming Friday, I am doing a special Wicks and Willow Facebook GIVEAWAY this week.  From now until Friday, August 31st, you can enter by visiting my Facebook page, and either tagging yourself or sharing the picture above on your own Facebook page.  On Friday afternoon at 4:00 PM, I will put all the names of those who shared the photo or tagged themselves in the photo into a drawing, and one lucky winner will get a free Ball Mason Jar Layered Candle in their favorite team colors.   All the candles are made to order, so you can choose which scent you'd like as well.  Right now, I have Vanilla, Vanilla Buttercream, Gardenia, Red Currant, and my new favorite Citronella.  It helps keep those pesky mosquitos away, especially if you want to burn your candle outdoors, say at a tailgate?! :)

White tea cup candles are my specialty, I have to admit, I have a lot of fun making these jar candles.  Over the past few weeks, they have been especially popular.  I have made Orange and Blue, Crimson and White, Black and Gold, and Scarlet and Gray.  I have also made solid color candles for moms-to-be in baby blue, baby pink, or yellow; patriotic Red, White, and Blue candles; and I have even made some in a friend's wedding colors that she used for "thank you" gifts for the coordinators.

If you aren't the lucky guy or gal who wins the giveaway and would like to order a jar candle, you can Facebook me or email me at wicksandwillow@gmail.com.  They are $12 (plus tax), and any solid, one, or two color combination is available.

Happy College Football Kick-off Week!  It's kind of like a holiday, isn't it?

The Thrill of the Hunt

I get the question, "Where do you find your tea cups?" every time someone finds out about my business  or makes a purchase.  The answer is simple enough: Antique Malls, Flea Markets, Yard Sales, Estate Sales, Thrift Stores, Ebay, Etsy, and the list goes on.  But there is nothing simple about it.  Since I opened Wicks and Willow, the hunt for tea cups has been just as time consuming as the actual process of turning them into candles.  But, I have to say... it's my favorite part of it all.

The thrill of the hunt is what's exciting; knowing that I could find that one-of-a-kind tea cup, or a shelf full of my favorite cups (Blue Willow) is what keeps me wandering down each and every aisle.   Sometimes I leave a store with one tea cup and saucer, sometimes none, and sometimes, my shopping cart looks like this.  And that, my friend, is a successful tea shopping trip!

When I shop at antique malls especially, I have to walk into every booth, look at every shelf, and haggle for every price.  There's no such thing as a quick look around the store.  There are days I walk out disappointed, and other that I leave with an extra pep in my step because I found exactly what I was looking for.  I get especially excited when I see these blue and white treasures stacked up on the shelves.

My most recent tea cup shopping trip was in the Auburn/Opelika area.  One of the stores that sells my candles is The Villager in Downtown Auburn, right next to Toomer's Corner.   Since I was already in town dropping off some tea cups candles for them, I decided to spend the day there and hit up some local stores.

In fact, I make it a habit that every time I travel, I look up antique malls, flea markets, or thrift stores they have in the area.  My friend Katie has been telling me that she thinks of me every time she goes to Angel's Antique and Flea Mall in Opelika, which is just about 10 minutes outside of Auburn.  Little did I know what a treasure-filled place this would be!

It was by far, the biggest antique mall I have shopped in for tea cups.  My shopping cart was full before I even made it through half the store.  I actually left my buggy up front with the cashier so she could start wrapping each cup and saucer in paper (sorry, folks behind me in line!), and I grabbed another buggy and started on the second half of the store.  I get a lot of weird looks when I have a buggy full of tea cups.  People ask me if I'm hosting a tea party.  If I collect tea cups.  Or they just outright ask me, "What are you doing to do with all those?"  I just think of it as the perfect conversation starter to tell them about my business and hand them a business card.  Maybe those weird looks will one day turn into a sale (or two)!

There are five other stores right now that sell or will soon sell my candles, in addition to The Villager in Auburn; two in Montgomery, two in Prattville, and one in Wetumpka that I'll be in soon!  It's exciting to think that someone can walk into a store, and buy something I made by hand in my own home.  Overall, I am really enjoying the process of owning my own business.  I love the creative process, the marketing process, and the "people" part of it.  My husband takes care of the money side of it... that's what I'm the worst at.  I'm not good with numbers.  So far, I have shipped orders as far away as Budapest, Australia, and New York.  However, I most enjoy delivering my candles in person, and getting to see the reaction of my customers.  It's not my full-time job, but I probably spend just as much time on Wicks and Willow as I do at my real job, WSFA 12 News.  

This is me at work today; I just had to share!  It's mine and my husband's one year anniversary, and he surprised me with flowers. I am one lucky gal!

My candle-making studio

Welcome to my kitchen!  AKA, my candle-making studio.

You can see my two sweet helpers there, Abbi and Cami.  They usually look at me like this when I make candles. 

Back to the candles.   When I make a big batch, my kitchen becomes a total mess.  Tea cups and jars usually are lined up on the counter tops.  I start by gluing down the wicks and melting the sox wax in my makeshift double-boiler.
















I buy the soy wax in bulk because it's really expensive to buy it in small quantities.  The kind I buy comes in flake form.  I find that it's way easier to work with than trying to break up a big block and melt it down.

 


This is the dye I use for the mason jar candles.  It is VERY concentrated.  I learned that the hard way when I put in one drop of brown, thinking it would be tan, and it turned out almost black.  I also learned the hard way that it does not come off cabinets or my face very easily.  As a TV News Reporter, the latter was a bit of a problem one day!

The jar candles require a lot more time, especially the layered candles.  Not only do you have to wait until the wax gets a certain temperature to add the color and fragrance, but it has to be a different temperature to pour it. Once one layer has been poured, it has to completely dry before the next layer is poured, or else the colors will run together.  (Also something I learned the hard way.)






It takes the wax about an hour to dry.  The white wax looks yellow until it dries.  Once it dries, I trim the wick, and it's ready to be photographed and uploaded to my Etsy page.  Learning to make candles that people would actually want to buy took a lot of trial and error.  And several ruined kitchen towels.  If you have a special tea cup you would like made into a tea cup candle, I do that too for only $5.  It saves you the trouble of learning yourself and having to purchase all the supplies.

This is one of the finished products.  The jar candles, of course, will take longer to make because of all the pours.  I wanted to give you a sneak peek of how the candles are made because I get that question a lot.   It's a lot of fun!

My burning desire to make candles

Hello blogger world! I am Melissa Johnson Warnke.  By day, I report the news on the NBC affiliate in Montgomery, AL.  By afternoon, I make tea cup and mason jar candles (and other vintage inspired gifts).

The perfect Saturday morning for myself and my husband involves yard sale-ing, estate sale-ing, and a trip to the antique mall/flea market.  We love taking things that no one wants anymore and making them into unique home decor items.  However, I am a neat freak.  I hate clutter, disorganization, and overall junkiness.  Hence the need to make things for other people, instead of keeping them myself.  (My walls are already full of hand made decor items, just ask my friends).

Months ago, I picked up with 26 tea cups and saucers that I got for WAY cheap at the Habitat for Humanity Home Store in Montgomery.  They sat in our china cabinet stacked up for months.  And, I just had to do something with them... So the idea of tea cup candles was born!  Everyone asks me, "How did you get the idea to make candles out of tea cups?". Now you know!  It took some time to get the hang of it.  I ended up with wax all over my kitchen countertops, a couple shirts I ruined from runaway dye and overheating my wax, but in the end, I would buy my candles.  So, I am proud to sell them to other people.

This little side business of mine encompasses so many things I enjoy: antique hunting, crafting, and social media (find me on Facebook - www.facebook.com/wicksandwillow).  I love knowing people have things I made in my kitchen in their homes... on their coffee or side tables or that they give them as gifts to special people in their lives.

A little more about me:  I am married to my high school sweetheart, Adam.  He is an Environmental Engineer for the State of Alabama.  We have two sweet yellow law/cocker spaniel mix dogs, who we rescued from the Elmore County Humane Society.  They are our children, for now :)  We both graduated from Auburn University, and we live in an old home in the Cloverdale area of Montgomery.

I am excited to share my decorating, tea cup shopping trips and crafting stories with you!