Candles

Hauls, Lifestyle

Charity Shop Treasures

June 11, 2014

Sometimes Gemma and I like to turn our addiction to shopping into a charitable affair and a few days ago, we popped into our local charity shops to see what they had on offer. It was partly my fault, because Id mentioned I’d seen a candle stick that I really wanted for some weeks, and with Gemma bringing her “let’s buy all the magazines” attitude, there was absolutely no stopping us. (If you want to see what buying all those magazines got us, you can check out the Ciaté collection here.)

Anyway, Gemma spotted a cute sewing box, the kind that I had been after for a very long time, but had never found the right one. The problem being, that each time I found a sewing box, the price tag would put me off, since I’m a bit of a craft-o-holic I always thought “I’ll just make one”. Anyway, I picked this up for just “2.95 from Sue Ryder with the intention of recovering it. As you can see above, it was covered in a pretty garish rose print, and although flowers are quite -in- at the moment (or so I’m led to believe) they really aren’t me. A few hours in my craft room with some red polka dot off cuts and a glue gun transformed it into the most perfect box for all my sewing attire. (Okay, not -all- my sewing attire, but most of it)

Moving on into the next charity shop, where I’d seen a lovely candle stick. I couldn’t find it anywhere, so after reassuring myself that it was Okay because I ended up with a sewing box instead, we almost left. It wasn’t until Gem was paying for her things that we spotted it on a shelf, behind some glassware. A beautiful pentacle candle stick for an even more beautiful price of £2.69. This too underwent a bit of a transformation as it has now been sprayed black.

Both of my lovely cheap and cheerful treasures have now found a home in my craft room, and I take great comfort in some of my hard earned pennies (albeit less than £6) have now gone to a good cause.

Have you found any treasures in your local charity shops? As always, post us some links or tell us about your lovely things!

Totally hellbent for guilt free shopping that gives a little back

-Pants

Candles

Sunday Scents: Yankee Candle Wax Tart in “Soft Cotton”

April 27, 2014

My love of Yankee Candles has been ongoing for many years now. I’m always on the look out for cheap wax tarts to fill up my oil burners and usually have a good stash in the cupboard. When Gem told me that Asda had these tarts for as little as a pound, I had to get in on it. I usually pay between £0.99 and £1.50 per tart when I get them from the internet so it’s handy to know I can pop down the road to pick up some of these treasures for around the same price.

For those that have never tried a tart before, you simply use it in place of oil in a burner, place your candle underneath and leave the aroma to brighten up the room. I prefer them to scented candles as I think you get more of a fragrance out of them. The burn time is allegedly 8 hours per tart but I’ve found it varies depending on the fragrance. My recent Cinnamon and Sugar tart probably kept it’s fragrance for around this time but my Black Cherry tart is used at least once or twice a week and has been going for over a year and a half.

I’ve not tried the Soft Cotton wax tart before, but it has a beautiful light and airy smell, it reminds me a little of Febreeze, which I absolutely love and it’s perfect to burn in the bathroom to give the upstairs a nice gentle aroma. I’ve also found that this scent isn’t too heavy but since using it, has left the whole of my upstairs smelling absolutely beautiful.

The other advantage of wax tarts is that they can be easily removed from your oil burner and stored somewhere else if you fancy burning something else. I usually burn mine until they stop smelling and for my smaller burners, I break off a little of the tart at a time which makes them last longer.

Ultimately I think this is yet another Tart to add to my favourites collection and I’ll definitely be putting this in my shopping trolley again.

For a range of Yankee Candle tarts you can visit The Scented Candle Shop website for some great deals, alternatively if you want to try a more limited range, visit your local Asda and pick them up for just £1!

Totally hellbent for a beautiful cotton bathroom smell that combats the post walkies bath, wet doggy smell.

-Pants