Candles - Deirdra Monet's Lifestyle Blog

DIY Bug Repellant Candles

Deirdra Monet — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 02:15:23 +0000

As summer evenings stretch out, inviting us to spend time in our gardens or on the patio, the last thing we want is to be swarmed by pesky bugs. If you’re tired of chemical-laden repellents or just looking for a more natural alternative, why not try making your own DIY bug repellant candles? Not only are they effective, but they also add a charming, aromatic touch to your outdoor space. Plus, they’re incredibly simple to make. Let’s dive into this refreshing project that combines natural ingredients and essential oils to keep those insects at bay.

Ingredients

To get started, you’ll need the following ingredients and equipment:

Mason Jars: These are the perfect vessel for our candles and provide a rustic charm.
Water: Forms the base of our candle mixture.
Witch Hazel: Helps the essential oils disperse evenly in the water.
9 Lemon Slices: Adds a zesty, fresh scent.
9 Lime Slices: Brings a citrusy kick.
9 Stalks of Rosemary: Provides a fragrant, herbaceous aroma.
Essential Oils: For the key bug-repelling properties:
- 15 drops Citronella
- 15 drops Lemongrass
- 15 drops Lavender
- 15 drops Eucalyptus

Assembling the DIY Bug Repellant Jars

Prepare Your Jars: Start by slicing your lemons and limes into thin pieces and gather your rosemary stalks. Place three lemon slices, three lime slices, and two rosemary stalks into each mason jar. These not only add a pleasing aesthetic but also infuse the candles with delightful natural fragrances.

Mix Your Liquids: Pour 1/4 cup of witch hazel into each jar. This will help your essential oils mix well with the water. Next, fill the jars almost to the top with water, leaving a small space at the top. This gap is essential to allow the candle to float properly.

Add Essential Oils: To each jar, add 15 drops each of citronella, lemongrass, lavender, and eucalyptus essential oils. These oils are your secret weapon against bugs, and their combined scent is incredibly effective.

Stir and Set: Use a large spoon or the handle of a wooden spoon to gently stir the mixture, making sure to keep the fruit and herbs submerged under the water. This ensures that the oils are well distributed.

Insert the Candle: Place a floating candle on top of the water in each jar. The candle should sit comfortably on the surface of the water without overflowing.

Final Touch: Light the candle and place the jar in the area where you want to repel bugs. The candlelight combined with the aromatic oils will create a pleasant atmosphere while keeping those unwelcome insects away.

Benefits of Essential Oils to Fight Bugs

Essential oils have been used for centuries for their therapeutic and aromatic properties. When it comes to repelling bugs, certain oils stand out for their effectiveness. Here’s a closer look at the benefits of the essential oils used in this recipe:

Citronella: Citronella is well-known for its bug-repelling properties. Its strong, lemony scent effectively masks the scents that attract insects, particularly mosquitoes. This oil is a staple in many natural insect repellents and is highly effective when combined with other essential oils.
Lemongrass: Similar to citronella, lemongrass has a potent lemon-like fragrance that insects find repulsive. It is particularly effective against mosquitoes and flies. Lemongrass also has antibacterial properties, adding an extra layer of protection.
Lavender: Lavender’s soothing and calming scent isn’t just pleasant for humans—it’s also a deterrent for mosquitoes and other insects. Lavender’s natural compounds can repel insects while promoting relaxation and reducing stress.
Eucalyptus: Eucalyptus oil is renowned for its ability to repel mosquitoes and other bugs. Its strong, fresh scent disrupts the sensory receptors of insects, making it difficult for them to locate their targets. Additionally, eucalyptus has antiseptic properties that can help to soothe bug bites and skin irritations.

Essential Oil Substitutes

If you’re looking to experiment with different scents or have a limited selection of essential oils, there are several effective substitutions you can use while still keeping bugs at bay. For instance, if you don’t have citronella, you can substitute it with lemongrass alone or bay leaf oil, which also has strong insect-repelling properties. If you’re out of eucalyptus, tea tree oil is a robust alternative with its natural ability to deter mosquitoes and other pests. Peppermint oil is another excellent substitute, offering a strong, invigorating scent that repels ants, spiders, and mosquitoes. For a more woody note, cedarwood oil can replace lavender and provide a different but effective bug-repelling aroma. These substitutions can be used in similar quantities to maintain the effectiveness of your bug repellant candles, allowing you to enjoy a custom blend that suits your preferences and what you have on hand.

Creating your own DIY bug repellant candles is a fun and effective way to enjoy your outdoor spaces without the annoyance of pesky insects. By combining fresh ingredients like lemon, lime, and rosemary with a carefully chosen blend of essential oils, you can craft beautiful and functional candles that are as pleasing to the eye as they are to the senses. Not only do these candles help keep bugs away, but they also enhance your outdoor environment with delightful scents and a cozy ambiance.

DIY Bug Repellant Candles

The perfect fall and summer diy bug repellant candles to fight gnats, flies, mosquitoes and ticks. Easy to make and smells delicious to sit outside while enjoying the warm weather, bite-free.

Keyword bug repellant candles, diy bug repellant candles

Cook Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings jars

Equipment

3 mason jars

Ingredients

3/4 cup witch hazel
9 lemon slices
9 lime slices
6 stalks of rosemary
Water (to fill rest of jar)
3 floating candles

Essential Oil Blend

15 drops citronella essential oil
15 drops lemongrass essential oil
15 drops lavender essential oil
15 drops eucalyptus essential oil

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

In each mason jar, place 3 slices of lemon, 3 slices of lime and 2 stalks of rosemary,
Pour 1/4 cup of witch hazel into each mason jar. Then fill the jars the rest of the way up with water leaving only a little space for the essential oil drops and to allow the candle to float on top of the water without overflowing.
Add 15 drops of each 4 essential oils, citronella, lemongrass, lavender, and eucalyptus, to each mason jar as the blend for the DIY bug repellant candles. Use a large spoon or the handle of a wooden spoon to gently stir the mixture together. Try to keep the herbs and fruit pressed into the jar and not above water.
Place each candle in an area surrounding where you want to fight away bugs. Place the candle in the center of each jar, floating on the water. Light the candle. Enjoy the smell and lack of bugs around you from these DIY bug repellant candles!

Notes

To store, blow out the candle when done for the night. Top each mason jar with the lid and seal tightly. Store inside or outside for future use. Whenever you need to use again, just uncap and light the candle.

The post DIY Bug Repellant Candles first appeared on Deirdra Monet's Lifestyle Blog.

DIY Homemade Candle

Deirdra Monet — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 13:22:59 +0000

I’ve been a candle lover ever since I was young, mostly due to my mom’s candle business and love for the wondrous smells. As I got older, candles became an important part of my self care regimen! Nothing better than creating a mood, or ambience in your own home with one simple product. Even better for you, this blog post will teach you how to make a homemade candle of your own.

It is both simple and affordable to create this beautiful candle. So whether you are just a lover of self care products or want to gift a family member or friend a hand-crafted candle made with care, then this is the perfect DIY recipe for you.

Gathering your equipment and ingredients is the first step. This is such a good recipe to double batch, if you want to make a ton of homemade candles with different scents and colors. Let’s get into it!

Equipment & Ingredients

To make this homemade candle you will need these ingredients:

Beeswax Pellets
Coconut Oil
Essential Oils (scent of choice)
Food Dye (color of choice)

As for the equipment, you will just need:

Double Boiler
Candle Container
3 wicks
Dried Flowers/Herbs (optional)

Melting the Wax

To start, get a double boiler. Place some water in the bottom half of the pot and then cover with the steamer. Place the bowl inside with the beeswax pellets and coconut oil. Sit over medium=high heat. Everything will melt pretty slowly at first, but be sure to stir every 5 minutes or so to help the process along.

An alternative if you don’t have a double boiler is to just use a smaller pot and keep a low level of water boiling, then placing the bowl on top. The melting is less distributed this way, but works quite well with the same results.

Once this completely melts (about 10-15 minutes) remove from the heat, but keep the bowl inside the double boiler.

Now comes my favorite part; adding the preferred scents and colors. Because this homemade candle has a beeswax base, the color will already be a light yellow. So when I added the food gel color pink it created this beautiful orange color.

When adding dye, you can only use a food gel or paste, no liquids. This is because the candle is a wax products and the liquid would not mix well with the oily base.

Once the color is all mixed in, go ahead and add your drops of essential oil. You can choose one scent or mix multiple. Here I added 30 drops of lavender and 30 of cherry blossom. I loved the scent of the cherry blossom oil and it matched well with the design we will be creating on the top later with the dried flowers.

Along with that, both cherry blossom and lavender have such great benefits when inhaled. This is another reason I loved this recipe. This homemade candle becomes both a visual mood setter and a therapeutic item due to the essential oils within them.

Benefits of Cherry Blossom Essential Oil

Cherry blossoms have been a huge symbol of many things across cultures. When it comes to aromatherapy, this essential oil includes benefits such as:

Reducing Stress
Curing Insomnia
Pain Relief
Calming
Revitalizing

If symbolism is important to you, then this essential oil has many more benefits and good omens as well. The cherry blossom exemplifies femininity, elegance, and authenticity. A symbol of beauty, strength and power. They are often used during ceremonies because it is seen as an omen for good fortune and symbol of love and affection. Knowing these benefits and symbols, made the cherry blossom essential oil one of my first choices in making this homemade candle. That along with…of course it smelling AMAZING.

Benefits of Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender is an even more popular essential oil because it honestly has 2 times more of the physical and mental benefits than the cherry blossom oil. To me the addition of lavender is more for the benefits than the scent. When adding this to the homemade candle, it was much more of a subtle smell than the cherry blossom and that was more than okay with me. The benefits of this oil are:

One of the best essentials for headaches
Anti-inflammatory
Antioxidant protection (the lavender oil acts as an air purifier)
Reducing stress and fear
Improves Sleep
Relieves Pain
Reducing fatigue
Healing Properties (a study done on post open-heart surgery patients and cardiac ICU patients showed a reduction in their blood pressure and heart rates after inhaling lavender essential oil)
Supports Brain Function

Creating the Homemade Candle

Now that the essential oils and colors have been added the the melted wax, it is time to prepare the candle. Take your 3 wicks and place them evenly apart from each other in your candle container. In this wide and shallow bowl, three are used, but if the container were thin and taller, one would be just fine.

Once the wicks are placed, pour only enough wax to cover the bottoms of the wicks. Let this cool for about 15 minutes, to hold the wicks in place before continuing.

Then pour in the rest of the wax on top of the hardened bottom. Pour slowly so the layer is created evenly on top and the warm wax doesn’t break through what has just dried. That is simply it to creating this homemade candle. Let it cool and harden for 2 hours before clipping the wicks. I personally add an extra touch with the dried flowers, but that is optional.

To add the dried flowers to the top, use a butane torch to heat the top layer of the candle. Then place the dried pieces where desired so they stick into the candle.

To finish this homemade candle, clip the wicks with scissors to match the height of the candle container being used. Wait at least 24 hours before actually lighting this candle for an even burn.

And that is how you make a beautiful DIY homemade candle in less than 30 minutes. You can add your own unique touch with different add-ons to the top of the candle, such as crystals or doing layers of different color if making in a clear container.

Set the Mood and Light Your Candle!

Once you have waited the 24 hours, it is time to test and light the candle! Just look at the difference in the mood this homemade candle creates when its lit in a dark space. Super beautiful and anyone who walks into your home will definitely be asking “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT CANDLE!?”

Please share this recipe with family and friends if you enjoyed or leave a comment on how this candle making project came out for you. I would love to hear about your personal alterations too!

The post DIY Homemade Candle first appeared on Deirdra Monet's Lifestyle Blog.