Flowers or Candles for wedding centerpiece

Do you have a wedding coming up?  Are you starting to put the floral and centerpiece arrangements together for your big day?

Not many times in life is there a planned day that can cause so much dedication, stress and involvement.  One challenge wedding planners face is deciding what to put in the centerpiece of the tables.  Do you go with flowers, an ornament, glassware or candles?  This can be a tough decision.  While each have their own beauty, recently, the most common table centerpieces are scented candles.  The right scented candle for your wedding centerpiece can bring not only great charm and beauty, but also fill the room with the brides’ favorite aromatic vibe.

Mason jar candles have become ahuge hit at weddings, both indoors and outdoors.  Whether you’re walking down a red carpet at your place of worship or a pathway of soft white sand leading to the breaking waves of the ocean, you can saddle up with a scented Mason jar candle for your fancy wedding.

Wedding candles can be a tough item to find.  To get both an attractive candle that also smells at a reasonable price.  Here is one wedding Mason jar candle brand that focuses on wedding scents and offer a variety of different lid options for the bride and groom to choose from.  The great thing about these Mason jar candles is that each scent has a deep-bodied scent that won’t overpower a room indoors, yet has a strong enough throw to be smelled throughout. 

Try out their French Flower Garden, Lavender or Jasmine scent for your wedding.

If you’re a wedding planner and are looking to buy candles in bulk or wholesale.  Mason jar candles allows you to pre-order the candles for a discount and then ship the candles to the wedding location so that you have them in plenty of time for the wedding.

A Potpourri-esque Candle Scent -French Flower Garden

We all love the scent of potpourri!  A collection of dried fragrant herbs or plants basking in a bowl, vase or other decorative vessel.  The French are credited with the coinage and popularization of the aromatic plant mixture.  Centuries ago, people would gather gorgeous herbs and flowers in the springtime, let them wilt for a day or two and then mix them amongst each other to provide a unique aroma, unachievable by a single flower itself.

Early candle makers saw this great bowl of scent and wondered how they could take this great nuance and instill it in the candle realm.  At the time, scented candles were much less popular than they are today, and the ones that did exist typical derived from a single scent.  Candle makers began experimenting with multiple fragrance oils to see if they could produce a more potent, full-bodied potpourri-style scent.

Mason jar candles today come in a variety of colors, wax types, scents, shapes andqualities.  Scented candles are most commonly single-scent (ex. Cinnamon, Lavender, Jasmine, Strawberry).  While these candles can smell great, they are typically much less potent and full-bodied than multi-scent candles.  Full-bodied candles have a slightly different process than a single scented candle and typically have much more fragrance oil. 

Potpourri-styled candles contain scents such as cinnamon, cypress, jasmine, juniper, lavender, orange, pinyon, rose, lily rosemary, and mint, among many others.  French Flower Garden, a new potpourri styled candle comprised of rose, violet, penoy, gardenia and lily has just made its debut.  This eclectic batch of aromatics yields a unique blend that’ll fill up any room.  Rose and violet complement each other very nicely, whereas gardenia and lily blend together as well.  Together this amalgam is one of a kind and a must have this spring to have in your bathroom or living room.  Try a French flower garden Mason jar candle for your home.  These Mason jar candles also make terrific gifts. 

Soy Wax vs. Paraffin Wax ( Which candles do you buy? )

These days there’s so much attention being paid to the environment and the well-being of our planet. In recent years, we've been taught about major issues such as climate change and how its affecting our oceans, rivers, land and atmosphere in potentially catastrophic proportion.

Scientists have identified that carbon and other toxic emissions released into our atmosphere on a daily basis can have a very negative yielding affect.  When it comes to candles, researchers have found toxins such as toluene and benzene are emitted from paraffin wax candles when burnt, whereas soy wax candles do not release harmful chemicals.

In addition to harm in our atmosphere paraffin can also have direct effects on our health.  It’s said that frequently lighting paraffin wax candles in non-ventilated spaces can lead to health problems such as aggravated asthma, irritate the respiratory tract and cause other allergy-like symptoms.

Paraffin wax candles are by far the most popular candle available on the shelf.  Luckily with awareness, there has been a shift from paraffin to soy wax candles and its happening more and more.  When purchasing candles from say Walmart or Target most of the candles they sell contain paraffin wax.  Other than the candle label itself showing “soy wax candle” or “beeswax candle” it’ll be hard to determine prior to purchase.  Most candle companies that produce paraffin wax know that consumers are getting more educated and are not labeling their candles as containing paraffin.  So as a consumer, you really want to read the label and look for the markings of soy wax in order to be sure.  

If you’ve already purchased candles, a good way to tell what type of wax your candle is, is by the side of the jar.  If you purchase a jar candle, you’ll notice the side of the jar had a thick black soot if it is in fact a paraffin wax candle.  Soy wax candles burn cleanly, leaving no black residue on the jar itself.

Some candle companies that manufacture 100% soy wax candles are Mason Jar Candles Inc. a San Francisco based company.  Paddy-wax, based out of Franklin, TN also makes soy wax candles.  Fragrant Elegance is a Massachusetts based company that also makes soy wax candles that are healthy for the environment.

So the next time you walk into a boutique shop, candle shop or big box store in search for a great candle… Do yourself, community and planet a solid and purchase soy wax candles, not paraffin!  These small changes can make a big difference.

7 New Ways to Re-purpose a Mason Jar for your Bathroom

Here are some clever ways that you can repurpose your beautiful Mason jar for your bathroom once your candle has burnt out. So keep it from finding its way to a landfill or recycling plant and extend its life in one of these nifty nuances. Followings are the new 7 ways to Re-purpose a Mason Jar Candles for your Bathroom.

1) Plants – Never can you go wrong when planting a flower or plant in some potting soil and watching it grow. This immediately adds life and purpose to your jar and your bathroom. A few great plant options that only require little light and grow well indoors are: The Rubber Tree, Bonsai Tree, Peace Lily, and small Snake Plant and of course succulents.

2) Vase – If you’re not the grower-type, but still want the liveliness of a fresh flower, then quickly turn your Mason jar into a vase. This can be done by simply putting the flowers in the jar and cutting them to length, or you can take it a step further and cut out a 2” diameter hole atop your lid to force your flowers to stand-up straight.

3) Soap Holder (Lid) - Not much work here… simply unscrew your lid, flip it upside down and use it as a placement for your bar of soap. The brass or black metallic lid often complement the white porcelain well.

4) Potpourri - Since your Mason jar will already maintain a level of lasting scent from your scented candle (if you haven’t washed it out with soap yet)…. You can add a blend of dried scents including lavender, jasmine, cinnamon, orange, juniper and many others to give your bathroom a deep aroma that’ll keep your commode area smelling fresh.

5) Tea light Holder – To keep your candling going in your Mason jar, simply light up a tea light candle and set it at the bottom of your un-lidded Mason jar. (Note: This has an especially romantic feel at night for a bath).

6) Liquid Hand Soap Dispenser – Cut out a 1-2” diameter hole atop the center of your lid and insert a pump from an old soap dispenser or other pump product through the hole.  For instructions on how to make one see here.

7) Storage – Rather than stuffing your everyday items into drawers… Instead, highlight them in an elegant Mason jar within your bathroom furniture. A few items that can go well and provide extra convenience are Q-Tips, cotton balls, razors, nail files and even some makeups.

Once your Mason jar has burnt its last wax, start to think about how you'll re-purpose your beautiful jar.  Hopefully one of these new ways to re-purpose a Mason jar for your bathroom will aide when you're decorating.

If you've found other ways to re-purpose a Mason jar for your bathroom, please let us know at KeepIt@MasonJarCandles.org