Ready to Meet the Mrs.?

So the day has come! (and gone..) I am a married woman now and that still feels like just a line in a script to me.  But I'm sure eventually it will be natural....or I'll still be calling him my boyfriend in five years.  Either way, the chaos of graduation and the wedding has come and gone and I am now struggling to return to reality after a great European honeymoon to Rome and Paris.

It's strange, because as happy as I am to settle back down and relax in my home with my boy(husband)friend, I have to now face the issues that come with being a recent grad.  That means - essentially jobless. My new legally attached other half keeps trying to remind me that I do have a job, and do plenty of work around the house (the same arguments moms have been making for themselves for years). However without a bun in the oven or any related situation, I can't accept that as a valid description of my day. Sure I clean and got unpacked and filled the fridge back up, preparing full meals when he gets home and catching the dogs up with the vet and heartgard.  I suppose there's also that online program for web design I just started. But with one course at a time, a "job" that still keeps me in the house all day, I am nearing a severe cabin fever.  Not to mention - WAY too hot to go running anymore, even after dark.

Hopefully something will turn up. I'll keep scourging indeed.com and various sources during the day for work.  I may even revert to my high school self and simply make rounds at the local mall for something in the mean time.  For now, I am trying to focus on my web program and take advantage of any extra resources and projects that come with it. I hope everyone likes my new blog banner, courtesy of my new Adobe CS suite and mandatory practice with Photoshop.  I'll also be listing items on my etsy shop from the wedding. So if anyone would like some conversation pieces for an event, my crafty projects can be found there.  I will post the address to my links page.

I hope an employer turns up soon, ready to meet the Mrs. me.  Because until I'm an established, working adult, I'm still not sure I believe it!

Hand-fasting

Jumping the Broom

the Candle Crafting Continues

I made a post recently mostly just about decorating some natural candles I bought for my wedding.  While those are turning out lovely, my passion and admiration for the gentle glow and scent of a good candle has only burned brighter.  Many times, in passing, I have thought about making candles. That fantasizing grew to be about candles that are so interesting and handcrafted with love and natural ingredients, that others may actually like to purchase them.  I have a friend who enjoys the thrills and drama of a home business, making and selling products online.  While not enough for a year-long career, she seems to really enjoy taking time from her office job in the holiday months to work from her apartment.  However, I also know people who have attempted to do some online business and it hasn't quite worked out.  So candles has never been a serious career move idea for me, but the idea still lingers as a whimsical hobby.

One day recently, I finally decided to at least get enough supplies for a candle or two and see if I could even make a candle worth selling.  Or at the least pretty enough for me to keep around the house and maybe save some money from buying candles.
Armed with some wood wicks, a hot glue gun, a box of soy wax, fragrance oils, and a melting pot...I went to work in the kitchen.  Interestingly enough and by coincidence, it was a great time to be making these candles for magickal purposes as well.  It was around the full moon, and on a Saturday, which according to my weekday correspondences courtesy of Ellen Dugan's Book of Witchery, is represented by pomegranate.  Lovely!

With pomegranate for fertility and/or prosperity, and vanilla for sensuality (great for relationships), the full moon should amp up these candles for love and prosperity.  I melted down leftover wax from a glade apple-cinnamon candle I had pretty much used up, and poured that into another nearly used candle with a wintery smell.  Tada - already rejuvenated old candles and made them usable again! :) I was also left with a nice new frosted candle jar!  The other jar I used was an old artichoke hearts container that I washed out (many times - artichoke marinade smell lingers apparently). Eco point 1 for me, reused glass jars.

 The process was actually pretty simple.  I scooped about a half cup of soy flakes (eco point 2!) into the pot.  I set it up double boiler style, as instructed by a plethora of YouTube videos.  It melted quickly and I added in the pomegranate oil and some rust-colored candle dye.  I decided to do layered candles; hey, go big or go home, right?  So I poured the first layer in after having glued down my wood wicks (eco point 3 - all natural wicks!). I had to let that cool before dealing with the next layer.

Second verse, same as the first.  I melted down more wax, this time left it natural colored, and added vanilla.  A few repeat rounds of wax pouring later... I actually had pretty and delicious smelling candles!  Not to mention, my kitchen smelled WONDEROUS.

I finished the jars off with some ribbon I had around the house.  Not too shabby...this candle thing may work out just yet!  I gave one to my friend (the one who works from home) and filled her in on all the magickal goodness that awaits her within her one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted, eco-friendly, witch's candle. She was pretty excited, agreeing that love and prosperity were certainly things she could use :) She was also shocked at how clean and pretty they looked (which I most strongly concerted with her surprise) and  planted the seed - "I think you really could sell these, especially if your going through the trouble of establishing correspondences and moon phrases into this..."  
I kept one candle for myself, and happy to say, it's still going!  I have had it lit for maybe 1-3 hours in a night, and over the course of several nights it is nowhere near half used.  I imagine it has a good 10 hours burn life in it.  I haven't made anymore yet... but will definitely try to work on that soon!