Project You Missed: Memorial Candles

Hey everyone! So, as I mentioned before, I wanted to post about a couple of projects that I did the week of the wedding and didn't have time to blog about. The first project is our memorial candles.

Materials: 10" tall cylinder vases (purchased at Michael's), frosted vellum paper (Staples), glue roller (Wal-mart... the only thing I've purchased there in the past 5 years, and it's the best quality for the lowest price, ha!).

Directions:

1. Layout text in either a word or design program (I used InDesign). I kept my text around 3.5 inches wide, and centered it in the middle of the page. Make sure your page is set to landscape (horizontal) - otherwise it won't fit around the vase.
2. Print the design on the vellum, then wrap it around the vase.
3. Make a mark on the paper if there is any overlap, then trim one edge (I trimmed about .25 of an inch off one side of mine).
4. Run a line of glue on one side of the paper. Position it on the vase, but don't press down. I positioned my vellum about .25 of an inch from the bottom, leaving about 1.5 of an inch clear on the top - you can center the paper on the vase as well - I just thought it looked more interesting this way. When you have the paper correctly aligned and straight, press the line of glue down to secure.
5. With the other end of the paper loose, run another line of glue on the opposite edge. I found that rolling the paper/vase on my lap worked best at keeping things straight. Don't press the other edge of glue down yet though - you may need to fiddle with the end a bit, to get it to line up with the other edge, keeping the paper as tight as possible against the vase while you make adjustments. Then press the glue down in place.
6. Place an LED votive in the vase and you're done!

For each of the candles, the phrase at the top was the same:

"This light shines in loving memory of a life and love remembered"

Then I put the name of the deceased relative(s), and I added a different quote for each at the bottom. Here are the quotes I used:

• "Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy" (Eskimo proverb, for my great-grandmother)
• "The heart hat its own memory, like the mind. And in it are enshrined the precious keepsakes, into which is wrought the giver's loving thought." (H.W. Longfellow, for my grandfather)
• "Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." (Rossiter W. Raymond, for DH's grandparents)
• "To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die." (Thomas Campbell, for DH's grandfather)

We placed the candles on the fireplace mantel with all of the other family photos we had. Here is a shot of the candles, lit up, from our professional photographer (Lisa Rigby).