April's Showers (of flame and wax...)

April is an interesting month of changing of the seasons where I live.  I think the changing of the seasons translated into which candles I burned as well.  I started out with two, almost identical cactus candles.  I'm pretty sure I found these at the Salvation Army.

Next was a cute "It's a Boy" candle shaped like a pig, probably another Salvation Army find.

After the pig I went with a Christmas ornament shaped candle.  Like I said, my candle choices for April were all over the map!

Finally, I went into a spring-like theme with the rest of my choices.  Up first in the spring category, a cute gel candle with a butterfly nick-knack inside, and colored sand at the bottom.

Being so small, the gel candle didn't last long.  So, I moved on to a sandcastle shaped candle.  I've yet to find another candle like this one.  It was covered in actual sand and looked like it had shells embedded in the wax!

It sure was pretty when it was lit!  And it turned out, the shells were made of wax!

I went back to a ball shaped candle after the sandcastle melted down.  Isn't this smiley face candle cute? Especially when it's all aglow?

Returning to the idea of spring coming along soon, I decided to light a fish shaped candle.  Although, someone had gotten to lighting it first...but that didn't stop me!

The final candle of the month was a pretty blue square candle embedded with shells, real shells this time!  I even managed to salvage 2 shells and a starfish from it as it melted down.

If April's showers bring May's flowers I wonder what candles the month of May will bring...

March(ing right along...)

February's Root Beer candle finally burned out during the first week of March and I decided it was high time to consider burning some Easter candles as it was getting to be about that time of the year anyway.  Here's the first one I picked.

A cute little basket of Easter eggs.  When they had melted down to a gooey, unrecognizable mass I moved on to this lovely egg.

I love the way it glowed, especially when the lights were out when it was lit.  Unlike the red metallic present candle from January, this candle was completely wax, even the ribbon and flower.  Continuing the Easter theme, I burned this egg candle next.

By the time that candle met its demise it was mid-March and time for a change.  I hadn't collected (at this point) many candles that were gel encased in a glass receptacle be it a glass, fishbowl, etc.  But the next candle, a gel candle, came in such a cute glass I was hoping to salvage it for future use.

Isn't this the most adorable glass ever?!  I love cats and each one is different!  Eight in all!  The bottom of the candle/glass was filled with sand, so it looked like the kitties were sitting in the sand.  Too bad the glass broke in the process of burning the wick and melting down the gel/wax.  :(  I was so disappointed, I went back to Easter candles and took my frustration/sadness out on Mr. Cottontail here...

Cute as he was, he didn't stand a chance.  Especially his ears!

Waxy "blood" just poured right out of them!  Sorry, Mr. Cottontail.  Moving on, I decided to burn some pie candles.  Buh'bye, cherry pie!

And peach pie!

The final candle for March is an adorable little girl in a bonnet.  This one reminds me of Strawberry Shortcake.

Actually, after looking her up, I'm almost certain this IS a Strawberry Shortcake candle.  It was a candle made for Hallmark stores but I bought it at Salvation Army for, as you can see, $3.99.  Not too shabby considering it's probably from the 1980s.  The label says it was hand crafted in Japan for Hallmark.  I wonder what it cost back in the day...

Here are various views of her, on fire...

 At some point half of her face melted in.  Poor Strawberry.  :(  She met her final demise on the first of April...

February's Candles

February 2013 started off with (most likely) with the conclusion of the burning of the white pillar candle from January, seeing as I lit it on the 25th and didn't light the next candle

until February 8th...  And it looks like I'm back in the post-Christmas mood.  Or I have a vendetta against a certain present-delivering, chimney using, fat man in a red suit...  Actually, I had a really nice Christmas, it was just time for this Santa-chimney candle to go.  And go it did...

Poor Santa melted down!  Right through his goodie bag AND the chimney!  Moving on, to the next Santa candle...

Looks like this guy might have been based on a foreign Santa - Russian?  French?  Finnish?  I can't tell...but he does have a list. I hope he checks it quickly because it looks like he only lasted two days before I moved on to the next candles.

A lovely matched set of birds.  These candles were coated in a shiny plastic of some kind.  The poor birdies only lasted 4 days before the next set of candles made their way onto the plate of death...

A matching pair of acorns and a piece of cake adorned with fruit.  I'll bet if that cake were real it would be real tasty! Doesn't the base of that acorn candle look like a real acorn cap?  It's not, it's wax, but the makers did a great job of replicating it, I think.  Alas, they only lasted 4 days, like their predecessors...

This Oak leaf candle came along next, and as you can see, it melted straight down, leaving the outer edges of the leaf to fall over and fall off.  This candle only lasted 3 days before I got a hankerin' for something related to one of my favorite sports to watch and my favorite sport to participate in...

 And isn't it just adorable???  By this point in the year, I'm so ready for winter to go away and spring training to start up!  This was a pretty small candle, it didn't even make it an entire day.  My next choice was based on my all-time favorite holiday - Halloween...

Another candle coated in metallic paint that is quite flammable. 

But looks like a real house-fire occurred as it melts down.  Poor kitty all you have left in this world is that stupid, grinning pumpkin...  So sad...  And your fiery death lasted 4 days - that seems to be the going average this month... Interesting...

Next, I picked this Root Beer Float candle.

How do I know it's Root Beer and not just beer with a massive head on it?  Most folks don't drink their beer with a straw...

This candle carried over into March and lasted for an entire week!  Having it housed in an actual glass mug must have helped it to burn more slowly - the same can't be said for that straw though...