Empty Candle Jars, the story of a Goose Creek Fanatic

I haven’t been a candle fanatic for long. In fact, before I learned about Goose Creek I didn’t really care about them at all! Everything changed when I received Blueberry Cheesecake and now I’ve found myself with a new problem! What exactly does one do with all the empty candle jars? It seems a shame to throw them away. The large candle jars are especially cute looking and seem like they could be reused in numerous ways!

Since I have no plan to stop collecting Goose Creek candles I figured I better figure something out! So this will be the first in a series of articles where we explore different creative ways to reuse our empty candle jars…and my current favorite scents along the way!

Empty Candle Jars, the story of a Goose Creek Fanatic

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First Things First! – Cleaning out the Jars!

Candle jars always end up with a bit of wax stuck to the bottom and sometimes, due to the shape some soot too! Obviously, before we do anything else we have to clean up the jar. The jar in this post is all that remains from our love affair with Blueberry Cheesecake. It was pretty dirty looking and since I have tried to clean out candle jars with limited success in the past I wasn’t actually sure I could make it sparkle again.

Turns out it’s all in the method. Here is the easiest way I have found to clean out your leftover jars.

• Bring a small pot of water to a simmer on the stove.
• Stick the bottom of your candle jar into the pot and let the hot water melt the remaining wax. This will smell amazing by the way! It’s like one last gift from your candle!
• Use an oven mitt, or tongs to remove the jar from the pot of water once all the wax is melted. Please be careful with this step as the glass will be fairly hot!
• Pour the melted wax out of the warm jar. You can throw it away if you like or pour it into another container to use later. I poured mine into a silicone mold and then set the hardened cube aside. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it yet but it smelled too good to toss.
• Repeat the steps above until you get most of the wax out of the jar.
• Once the majority of the leftover wax has been taken care of it’s time to clean up the smaller drips, residue, and soot.
• To do this I used a warm washcloth and a bit of dawn dish soap. Removing the remaining wax residue is easier if you use the warmest water you can stand.

Creating a Butterfly/Fairy Jar

For my first empty candle jar project, I decided on a fairy jar. They are incredibly popular on Pinterest and I always thought they would be a super cute addition to a little girls room. What little girl doesn’t want an enchanted nightlight jar?

However, when I went to look for supplies I had trouble finding fairy items and my printer decided to run out of ink. So butterflies it was! I’m not sorry, butterflies are also a lovely subject to work with and of course you can alter this project to suit whatever theme you want! Mermaids or unicorns would also be pretty fun!

Simple Steps for Making a Themed Jar

1. Tint your jar. Because I wanted my jar to be semi-transparent I decided to use a mixture of Elmer’s glue and food coloring. Simply squeeze a bit of glue out in a small container and mix in a few drops of your desired color. If you want you can also add glitter to your glue mixture. Use an old paintbrush to spread the mixture evenly along the inside of your jar. Spread the mixture thinly and try to keep streaks to a minimum – although streaks could add a fun effect if you were doing a mermaid or ocean themed jar! I ended up doing three coats before I was satisfied with the coverage. Make sure you let the glue fully dry before applying extra coats.
2. Apply your inner decorations. For my jar I used some butterfly wall stickers I found at the Dollar Tree. Since I wanted the colored side to show through the tinting I had to mod podge them to the inside of the jar rather than just sticking them on. If you have never tried mod podge before then this article might help you out with this step! Once your decorations are attached allow them to dry completely before continuing.
3. Use a string of fairy lights or some fake tealights to light up the inside of your jar. I preferred the look of the fairy lights but both will work! I expect you could also use glow sticks or tube lighting like we used for our Halloween wreath with good results too.
4. Decorate the outside and lid of your jar. To complete the look use a glue gun to decorate the outside of your jar. I picked out some fake moss, mossy rocks, pebbles and florals for my jar! then I found some 3-d butterfly sticker and added those. They originally had a paper backing on them but I just peeled off the 3-d part and glued them in place with a glue gun instead. I completed the look with a few wraps of nautical rope also from the Dollar Tree.

Pretty simple right? And I think it will look very pretty lit up at night! I will probably do a few more of these in the coming months with different themes. My oldest daughter has already requested something bird related.

My current Goose Creek Obsession’s

As promised here are the candles we are currently burning from Goose Creek! You’ll have to keep an eye out in the future to find out what we do with these jars once they have burned down. I’m not sure what those projects will be yet but I’m sure they’ll be fun!

Storm Front

Storm front is a slightly more subtle scent then Blueberry cheesecake was but it’s still very noticeable in the house. It’s a very clean earthy smelling scent to me which probably comes from the Cedarwood, Sandalwood, and Amber that’s advertised as it’s base. Don’t let you this earthy base fool you though because it’s mixed with a nice variety of floral and fruity scents. The mixture makes me think of the sharp fresh smells I get sitting beside our apple trees after a spring storm. I guess that’s where the name came from!

My husband appreciates Storm Front quite a bit. It’s a more masculine scent in my eyes so it’s perfect for someone who doesn’t want the home to smell too much like a bakery or overly girly!

Unicorn Candy

I mean with a name like that how could I pass it up? Unicorn Candy and Storm Front are on complete opposite sides of the scent scale in my mind. While Storm Front is masculine and invokes a sense of nature and strength – Unicorn Candy is light-hearted, fun and frivolous!

My kids love unicorn Candy. The scent reminds me of a Raspberry jolly rancher if I had to compare it to anything and it’s quite strong. Like Blueberry Cheesecake you can typically smell it from across the house while it’s burning! Unicorn Candy is all about the sweetness so it’s perfect for celebrating Spring!

Do you have a favorite Candle Scent?