I can not believe it has been almost a year since I have posted.  To be honest I had a lot going on last year that was not candle related.  In January my husband was diagnosed with colon cancer, had surgery, went through treatment.  In August a cat scan showed three tumors on his liver so started a new treatment in September.  In October he started having problems that did not improve and on November 28th he passed away.

My world turned upside down.  After almost 48 married years, though our love started couple years before we were married, I had to learn a totally new way of living which has not been easy.  I closed my shop the first of November and reopened in March.  Now I am not telling you this to feel sorry for me!  This is life and at some point in time whether we are male or female we will loose our spouse.  At least we had more that 50 years together.

We (our small town) have just had a young couple with two young children to loose their father and husband to cancer and that is really sad.  He was only 39.

That is not what this post is about really.  I am back to making candles, I tell my friends it is better than cleaning house all the time!!  I just wanted you who do see my blog to know that I am back.  I have been really busy so far with my faithful customers that wanted me to let them know when I did start back.  I am so thankful for them.

I have also started discontinuing some of my fragrance oils that were not popular.  I have learned that I may love them but if they are not my customers favorites it is time to let them go!  I have started testing some new "Types" I call them.  I read in a magazine I get that the more herbal, garden type scents were supposed to be the "thing" this year.  I probably have between 40-50 new scents I have started testing.  Several of them have made it to my website.  There are some just from smelling them out of the bottle - which is not how you are supposed to test them but that is the way I do - that will not make it.

I did add several through out the year last year and this month I have added several.  On my home page you can see a list of most of the oils I ordered to test and the ones with ** side of their names are the ones I added to my website this week.  If you would like to check them out this is the link:
http://www.rubyrosecandles.com/index.html        

I have one customer that loves chunk pillars and another that loves rustic pillars so I will post a picture of them for you to see, love making chunks and rustics because you never know quite how they will turn out.  I am also testing two new containers/jars that I really love.  They are very large and the cost may be higher than I want to charge but I think I can get the smaller ones.  I really think they are pretty and will be very different.

These are all taken in my shop while working and you can't keep a candle making shop clean!! Thank you if you made it through all my rambling.  Hope to see you on my Face Book Group page and hear your comments!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/rubyrosecandles/   I also have a business page I will share with you.  I try to have the same info on both but group page is public so everyone is free to post.  https://www.facebook.com/rubyrosecandles/

Hope everyone is enjoying spring!
        

Long Time!

Oh my gosh!  Can't believe it has been so long since I last blogged.  I always say "no more" but it always happens.  I am really not good at coming up with something to blog about.  Always did hate having to write letters when I was young, which has been a long time ago.  Now in this age of emails, face book, messaging it seems no one writes letters anymore.  My sister-in-law had sent my granddaughters a birthday card with some money and I told my son they needed to write her a letter thanking her.  He said they would just call and I said "NO" write a letter or send a card.  Well after about a month he told me they did sent her a letter and my sister-in-law had already told me about the sweet letter they had sent.  I'am afraid in a case of do what I say and not what I do I would have just called!!

Well down to candle business.  I keep telling myself that after about 13 years of making candles I am about ready to quit then I see some new scents that just sound so good and then I am off buying more oils and of course then I can't quit, got to play with my new oils!  Business has slowed down over the last couple of years.  The internet is saturated with candle makers, some good and probably to many bad because the buy supplies today, make a candle, then start selling.  A lot think it is a get rich quick business but the real truth is the opposite.  Get poorer!!  Buying supplies, shipping, testing and testing to make sure what you have made is really good is certainly no money maker!  Add to that a lot think they have to buy a "big name" candle or it won't be good.  Of course many just pick up one at WalMart or Dollar Store because they just don't want to spend the extra dollars for a good candle.

Well for somebody that can't think of anything to say not sure where all of this has come from.  Could be the 3 cups of coffee I've been drinking!

Down to candle business now!  Like I said I have added some new oils and I have added the popular jelly jar to my line of jars.  I have had to go up on the price of my jars, would add a sad face but don't know where to find the little smiley things!  After doing the bookkeeping it told me what I really should be charging!  Especially after I saw where a candle maker was selling the same jar I have for double what I was charging!  Honestly I said I wouldn't pay that much to buy one myself! My price is still not as much as their's was but it is more than it had been.  The jars are the only candles I did go up on though.  Shipping on jars with the weight of them and then some suppliers had also gone up I just couldn't wait any longer.

These are just some pictures of the 20 or so new scents I have been testing this month.  Really liked all of them but of course couldn't afford to order that many new ones.  I did order 11 of them and I do have a special on certain jars, pillar sizes, and 4 and 6 pack votives and melts.  Order any of them and the price shown is 10% off the original price.  This is the link to the page- http://www.rubyrosecandles.com/newscentsales.html

I have decided to join the age of Instagram!  Still learning it and at my age it does take a while.  Never used my phone for much than calling and texting!  I have a link on my home page to my Instagram but if you just want to look me up just search for rubyrosecandle

Another new thing I am trying to learn is hash tags!! Gee, when I first saw people using them on face book I didn't know what in the world they were and why they were using them!  Trying to learn all this after 65 is not easy!!

Guess I have rambled enough.  Probably should have saved some of this for maybe next week but then I wouldn't have remembered.

Thanks for reading this if you made it this far!  Like my face book page https://www.facebook.com/rubyrosecandles and I also have a group page you can join and keep up with new things and such, post questions, reviews (good I hope) or whatever as long as it's about me!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/rubyrosecandles/

Seems I am not doing very good at keeping my blog updated.  Very hard to come up with anything interesting to say!  I will say I am loving this fall weather.  Today has been a very pretty day, blue skies and a gentle breeze.  Wouldn't it be nice if the weather stayed like this all the time.  No air conditioning or heat at night!  Of course knowing us humans we would find something to complain about!

Well let me think what I have added to my website - http://www.rubyrosecandles.com/index.html.
I have added some wax melts in different shapes.  They seem to be very popular with other candle makers so decided I should try them.  You can see them here - http://www.rubyrosecandles.com/waxmelts.html.
I will be adding more shapes later.

I have also added 2 ceramic containers - a leaf container and a pumpkin container.  I have 5 of the leaf containers and 3 pumpkin containers left. They are a real bargain at $8.00 each.

My holiday scent suggestions list has been added.  Of course they are just suggestions and if most are like me I just burn what ever I am in the mood for, usually spicy or bakery scents.  You can view my list here http://www.rubyrosecandles.com/index.html 

So you can see some pictures without clicking I will add pictures!

Pepper is having a fit to go outside so guess I better say Good-Bye to all.  Enjoy Fall

 

Explanation of Different Waxes and Just Ramblings

I have never been one to bash any candle maker's choice of wax they choose to make their candles from.  I make paraffin candles.  That is what I started with, didn't really know there was another choice!  I like paraffin wax.  It makes a good candle with a great scent throw and when made correctly there is little to no sooting.  Many soy candle makers bash paraffin and they will list all kinds of harm that it does to the human population.  I have made soy candles in the past and offered them for sale but have not had even one that ordered soy over paraffin.

I saw this link I will post below that someone posted on a candle forum after yet another candle make had posted a YouTube of  the worst bashing I have ever heard of paraffin wax!  This YouTube I will link to does a very good and informative explanation of paraffin, palm, and soy wax.  Hope it works, can't test it until I publish it!
http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=JIJxjAUUaJ4&u=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DniByF8xHPQI%26list%3DUU-Znny2_fN1XXq88QdENAyQ%26feature%3Dshare%26index%3D21

Things have been slow in the candle shop this summer.  Of course I was expecting it to be, many people don't burn candles that much during the hot summer months.  Many are on vacations or like my son's children are busy all summer long with softball.  Softball has seemed to really gain popularity in the last couple of years.  My granddaughters love it and it seems they have practice about every day and games every week-end!  I really don't see how working parents manage!  My daughter-in-law is a school teacher so she has the summer off and can make a workable schedule for the girls!

School starts back for my county Friday.  I remember when I was young and I was always ready for school to start back after what seemed like a long summer.  Anxious to see my friends again and I enjoyed school. Mother always made sure I got a new hair permanent and had a new outfit to wear my first day!  School was so much simplier back in the day.  Now they give you a long list of supplies you have to buy for your school year and you absolutely have to have a new book bag with your name or initials monagrammed on it! Back "in the day" we just carried our books in our arms.  I remember I did have a - think we called it a "book satchel" one time but it was just to much trouble to carry.  Now the ones they use and all the "stuff" they have in them will give every child a bad back!  I won't even talk about how expensive it is now.  Parents with many children will go broke just getting them ready for back to school!

I will be adding several new fall scents to my web page in the next few days.  I have been testing them and so far am really liking them.  Of course that's my kind of scents - spicy and bakery!  I don't remember if I have blogged since I started making candles with wood wicks but I am really liking them.  (Memory is another of "those things" that goes away when you get my age)! You can actually hear the sizzle & crackle sound they make. Feel like you are sitting by an open fire place and it is cold outside even though it is actually 100 degrees but you are cooling it in your air conditioned room!  The wood wick candles are only available in two size jars and a tumbler.

I have been making several chunk pillars this summer and one customer said they were to pretty to burn and I do agree with her!  I told her I would just have to make her some ugly ones to burn!  I love chunk pillars with the different color chunks in them!   They are fun to make also!

      

Well, that just about covers all that I can think of at the moment.  I really need to get up from this computer and clean house and wash a load of clothes.  I have let everything go this week because I had my granddaughters Mon & Wed, their Granny had the Tue & today!  I am Grama!

Don't forget to like me on Face Book and follow me on Twitter to stay up with what's new.  I am on Pinterest but haven't been as active I should be!

Until I can think of something new to ramble about!
Elaine
www.rubyrosecandles.com

Rainy Day in Georgia

Sitting here are the computer - that's about the only thing I can do because my fur-baby Pepper - is scared to death of bad weather.  We have had some thunder and hard rain.  It didn't last but about 30 minutes but that was enough for her.  It will take her awhile to setter back down.  

Canceled going to the gym with my friends this morning.  We would have got soaking wet and also I hate to leave Pepper when she is like this unless it is an emergency or I just have to be somewhere I can't change.  I usually give her benadryl but was out and even then it takes awhile for it to calm her down.  


This is an earlier picture of her, right now she is as close as she can get to me! 

SO------I decided to write in my blog since it has been way to long since last time.  I always say I am going to at least blog monthly but then that's just like saying I am going to clean out my closet or drawers.  It always gets put off!  

Things have been pretty quiet in the Candle Shoppe.  I really haven't been in the mood for much candle making but I do have my regular customers I try to keep happy!  I've  been thinking about making woodwick candles so decided while it was quiet I would start testing them. Ordered woodwicks from 2 different suppliers to try and decided on 1 of them.  I really do like the way they sound.  The sizzle, crackling, and little popping really do make you think of sitting by a fire. If you have a fireplace then you know how soothing and comforting that can be.  

Sometimes I wish we could build one during warm/hot weather just for that feeling!  Of course that would probably make Georgia Power happy because we would certainly have to turn down the temp on the air conditioner!  I will try to insert this video and see if it works - it didn't!  This is a link to my face book page where you can hear it burning. Really amazing how loud it is!  https://www.facebook.com/rubyrosecandles

This is a picture of it burning.  










I have added a couple more scents, you know me, just can't resist buying more.
Coconut Butter - Buttery top notes of sugar and creamy vanilla bean with hints of spice and rich toasted coconut.  Very yummy!
Raspberry Lemonade - A refreshing blend of raspberries with lemon, vanilla, and sugar. 

Let's all remember the people that have been hit with the tornadoes, storms, and flooding in Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama & Florida.

Washer just finished washing a load of clothes, time to get them in dryer and start another load. If any one can figure out how 2 people mess up so many clothes please let me in on the secret!

Until Next Time,
Elaine
  

   

I'am Stuck on ???? Cause ???? Stuck on me

You probably wonder what kind of title is that but I bet you are singing that song now!  Commercials have a way of playing with your mind sometimes and once you hear the song that goes with it the song gets stuck in your head!!  Talking about commercials, don’t you just love the Budweiser commercials!  Their commercial from last year with the Clydesdale and the one this year during the Super Bowl with the puppy added.  I love the man in both of the commercials, he is just so sweet looking.  Maybe next year they will add a kitty along with the horses and puppy!!

Back to the commercial now that it’s stuck in your head!  I actually heard it the other day, had thought it had gone away!!  But when I started  blending some oils that commercial came to mind.  I read somewhere the other day that fig was the new scent so my mind started thinking.  What can I mix with fig to come up with some really good scents?  I decided to do the old "Google" thing and search for fig.  I was rather surprised what I came up with.

Figs and fig trees have an illustrious history behind them and, if the wood carvings dating from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are any indication, they formed part of the Garden of Eden, their wide leaves serving as the first within reach for a medium of modesty after the Lapse from Heaven.  The philosopher Plato was more interested in their mental-stirring qualities rather than practical ones, claiming that figs stimulate intelligence.  Well I said, I can surely use some added intelligence!  I kept on searching and found that many Luxe Hotels use scented candles to lure guest in!  Tea and citrus are popular choices, and fig is “a very hot trend in fine fragrance.”  Still searching I  discovered that the “high class”  Perfumers use fig in many of their perfume expensive blends.  I said "Right on, way to go!  You have really hit on something!"  It really was surprising at all the names of the "high Class" expensive perfumes that have fig in them.

When I first started making candles I found a fig fragrance oil that I really liked, though it appeared I was about the only one that liked it!  After I had used all of it making me fig scented candles the supplier no longer carried it so I gave up on a straight fig fragrance oil.  I have  Mediterranean Fig which I really like and customers like it also.  I think it was last year that I ordered Cranberry Fig and oh my goodness----I was hooked for sure!  That is probably my #1 favorite of all my candle scents, I am absolutely in love with that scent.  So I thought with cranberry mixing good with fig surely other fruits would.  I immediately thought of apple and pomegranate!  But I thought, Vanilla is good with everything so lets try some Vanilla Fig.  I mixed up 3 sample bottles and kept smelling and tweaking until I had the scent where I wanted it.  So I have Apple Fig, Pomegranate Fig, and Vanilla Fig.  Burning the Apple Fig today.

Poured candles couple days ago to see how my blend was going to smell burning.  But with these three my mind just kept wondering to just how many scents you could mix with fig.  The fig just seems to "ground" I think is the word I am looking for, whatever you add to it be it fruit, floral - and yes I have a floral scent mixed with fig and just waiting for it to "mellow"!  So with all this fig going through my head you can see where that commercial just popped into my mind and honestly I can't get it out of my head - "I'am stuck on Band-Aide cause Band-Aides stuck on me"!

Just wish I could figure out how to make a good fig preserve scent!  My mother made the best fig preserves, and no strawberry in them.  All you needed was some hot home-made biscuits and butter and you had a real treat!  Another good one she made was pear preserves.  Best ever!

I also have 3 new fragrances I will be adding to my website soon.  They are Cinnamon, Apples, and Peaches, Island Hibiscus, and Raspberry Sangria.

Trying something new below, hope it works!

Welcome Fall with Ruby Rose Candles

Hello Friends...Just a quick word to let you know I am still here!  It has been a while I know but I have sort of taken a little break during the summer from candle making.  This fall weather really has me in the mood though to get "geared" up for the season and the holidays!  As you can see from the picture above I have a completely new look to my website, think I will be keeping this one!

Just wanted to let you know about all the new oils I have added. This weather really puts me in the mood for all the good bakery and spicy scents.  They really are my favorites and hope you will like them also.  You can see the list of my new scents on this page http://www.rubyrosecandles.com... Just click on the scent name and you will be taken to the page for the description.

I will also be offering my last special sale of the year during the month of October.  It's not to early to start your Christmas shopping and also a great time to load up on your "stock" for the coming holidays!  All online orders $15.00 and over will receive 15% off so don't let this past you by!  

If you like my candles then please recommend me to your friends and family.  Tell them to comment you sent them when they order and leave your name so I can thank you, there may also be a special discount you can use on your next order!!  

Would love for you to go to my face book page and like me.  I welcome all of your comments and suggestions.  If there is a scent you would like please ask me.  This is the link to my page https://www.facebook.com/rubyrosecandles

This is a picture of my Apothecary Jar with new label to match my website.