Make Vintage Christmas Candles for Decor

Use wrapping paper and Mod Podge to decoupage pretty vintage Christmas candles and little matchbooks. These are so easy to make!

Hey everyone! This is Ashlee from My So Called Crafty Life, and today I am here to share how to decorate fun holiday candles and matchboxes for the upcoming season. This is a fun Christmas craft for adults!

I am a nut about Christmas! It is my favorite time of year by far, and so I always have lots of crafts on my holiday bucket list.

I have bunches of scraps of vintage Christmas wrapping paper that have been waiting for something special. So, I thought I would put them to use by decoupaging some plain candles and little matchbooks.

Check out my how-to for turning regular candles into vintage Christmas candles! You’re going to love this homemade Christmas decoration. Here’s how it’s done.

DIY Vintage Christmas Candles

Gather These Supplies

• Plain Candles in Various Sizes
• Matchbooks
• Wrapping Paper Scraps
• Mod Podge Matte
• Paint Brush
• Glitter
• Paper Plate or Cup for Glitter
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Wax Paper or Protected Work Surface

Instructions

For the candles:

The first thing you need to do is gather all the supplies to make your vintage Christmas candles. Measure the height of your candle.

You will need to cut a strip of wrapping paper to be just a little smaller than the height of your candle. For example, if your candle is 2″ tall, you will want to cut your strip to be 1&3/4″ tall.

The width of the strip can be measured precisely or you can just eye it by wrapping the paper around the candle and marking where you think you need to cut it. Make sure you have a little overlap.

Paint a very thin layer of Mod Podge Matte on the backside of your wrapping paper strip, just on a portion starting on one end. Lay the candle down onto the wet paper and press and roll firmly smoothing out the paper as you go.

Paint more medium on and continue wrapping the candle tightly until the paper is all the way around. Overlap the edges and paint a layer over the top of the ends so they are nicely adhered.

Set aside and let dry. You can also cut shapes out of the papers and just apply with a thin layer of medium on the backside.

For the Matchbooks:

For each matchbook, cut a strip to be the width of the matchbook by the height plus about an inch more with the matchbook open and flattened out. Paint a thin layer of Mod Podge Matte on the back side of the wrapping paper strip.

Start applying the paper strip to the matchbook on the backside right above where the strike strip is.

Smooth it over the backside and then fold the top back down, then adhere the paper to the inside cover of the matchbook. Set aside to dry.

Once dry you can add your glitter. Paint a layer of Mod Podge Matte on the bottom of the matchbook then dip the wet bottom into a cup of glitter and swish around to coat evenly. Tap the excess glitter off then set aside to dry.

You can make the large matchbox by applying a piece of scrap paper that is the height of the box and will go around the front, one side, and the back. Glitter the ends of the box.

I LOVE how my candles turned out! With the exception of my poodle candle, which I applied upside down, they all turned out perfect!

If I had known how easy it is to decoupage a candle, I would have been doing this years ago!

I think these vintage Christmas candles would make excellent gifts for a hostess or for your Holiday loving friends and family.

The best thing about this Christmas craft is that it is budget friendly and earth friendly since you can use scraps and even candles you have on hand.

It’s super fun and really easy! I hope you all add this project to your holiday crafting sessions this year.

If you like these vintage Christmas candles, check out these other vintage inspired holiday crafts:

• Wood Slice Christmas Card Magnets
• Christmas Tree Centerpiece
• Dollar Tree Christmas Crafts