Thursday, September 10, 2009

Light My Fire

Jay and I recently went to the local ACE Hardware which is not as boring as I thought it would be. I saw a 10-pak of Diamond "Strike Anywhere" box matches and realized I was out of box matches at home (which I love). Guess I hadn't been to any fancy bars lately, so why not pick these up for $1.57?

Then I had an idea...what if I decorated the matches myself? There happens to be Mod Podge at ACE, too (which is the coolest stuff). I could cut photos out of magazines and paste them on when I got home...

First, I decided to paint each side so that I wouldn't have to cut the magazine images so perfectly. I used some white flat wall paint that we had in the garage and poured some into my paper coffee cup. Easy. I was really getting into this!

Then, I grabbed all the magazines I had laying around and started cutting images. Choosing the images was probably the most fun and creative part. I used one box of matches to trace the shapes.

And finally, I pasted an image on each side. It was interesting to learn that some magazines had more suitable paper for this project. For example Surfer Mag's paper was pretty thin, and I had to baby it a little by getting air bubbles and creases out. Whereas Art on Paper rocked. I am certain the thick paper from a Surfer's Journal would be terrific, but I'm not cutting those up.

I really like lighting my candles with these. My favorite right now is Trapp No. 4 Orange Vanilla (2 oz votives). I know scent is a very personal thing, but I highly recommend these.

By the way, it's nice to be back. Thanks for your hello's recently.

10 comments:

Jessica Nichols said...

This is an excellent project. I happen to love hardware stores and in fact, tweeted about my love last week. I spent two hours roaming around. Ace are the best, followed by Orchard. I am not a fan of the other, orange one.

Devo looks like he wants to take a bite of your orange vanilla candle by the way.

Toddy said...

Rad. Nice to have you blogging again too.

Eddie Money said...

nice idea! they turned out great! nice to see you back slangin' keyboard strokes again. big mexican luv to the watson crew.

Mariss said...

I didn't see this post! But I'm glad to see you - was wondering where you had been ;) I love candles, but Mike has banned me from lighting them. I have almost burned the house down about 3 times!!!!

azuldeultramar said...

well done... not cutting The Surfers Joural :D j

aloha

dani

Shari said...

What a sweet gift that would make... a yummy candle and your cool matches. Christmas is coming... tick-tock!

Shona~ LALA dex press said...

these are frickin' awesome!

what are you talking about? hardware stores are loads of fun.

Candi said...

You did a great job! This looks fun.

Andrea said...

Gee Jamie, you are so creative...who would think that a box of matches could look so lovely!

BEGT said...

I loved your idea:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquarelita/4198870073/