Retro Red Magazine Candle

Retro Red Magazine Candle

Many, many years ago I remember a Christmas decoration that my Mom made and I just loved them. She made a set of Christmas Carolers out of folding what I think were old Reader’s Digest magazines. They were so cute and I always remembered them and thought that one day I would try and make them for myself. Then one day not too long ago I came across a project on a blog somewhere…forgive me not remembering the site I saw it on…but she used this same magazine folding technique and she made a pumpkin. That started me thinking about making something for the holidays and I came up with this candle. (If I get good at this I might try and reinvent the Christmas Carolers one day. :))

And here they are all finished! I am so happy with the way they turned out.

The smaller candle that I made was assembled using two “Prevention” magazines. I like this size magazine because it is short (like me) :) I also made a second candle out of the taller “More” magazine and I used two of them as well. ( used a Brazil nut on the smaller candle for the flame and on the larger candle I used a walnut.)

Here is how to make one for yourself.

Supplies Needed: (for one candle)

2 of the same size magazine and both should have approximately the same number of pages.

Tacky Glue

Spray Paint

Brazil Nuts or walnuts (you want your nut to look “flame-like”

tooth picks

Gold metallic craft paint

paint brush

Step 1: Start by folding the front and back covers in to the spine of the magazine. Then at the front of the magazine start folding the pages into the spine lengthwise so that all the pages are folded into the spine moving in the same direction. Fold both magazines this way.

Step 2: I used the Tacky Glue to attach the spines of the magazines together and the entire front and back covers together so that both magazines were joined and I had a nice complete cylinder. I used chip bag clips to pinch the magazines together or you could secure it with big paper clips. ( I encourage you to use Tacky Glue because it is strong enough to hold this together. Feel free to use a strong “crazy” glue as well. Let dry completely.

Step 3: Spray paint your candle. Let dry in between coats. Don’t worry if you still see some of the print. That is part of their charm!!

Step 4: Paint your Brazil or Walnuts with gold metallic paint for your “flame”.

Step 5: Drill a small hole in your Brazil or Walnut so that you can insert the toothpick or floral pick in it. (I actually had to drill the Brazil nut but the Walnut let me push a tooth pick into the bottom without drilling.)

Step 6: Put some Tacky Glue on the length of toothpick that will be inserted into the nut. Push the toothpick into the nut. Let dry.

Step 7: Insert the tooth pick with your painted nut/flame into the center of the top of your candle.

Step:8 Embellish if you wish. I added a ribbon around my larger candle and added a gift tag to my smaller candle.

I think I like the smaller “Prevention” magazine sized candle the best. The “More” magazine candle is huge! It would be a good size if you needed something big and tall for maybe on top of a bookcase or cabinet. Either size though is really cute. Looks very retro to me.

I am joining Transformation Thursday over at The Shabby Chic Cottage. Stop by for other great projects!