Blowing our Birthday candles in Style – Tutorial

I have grown tired of just plain wax candles and was looking for something new.
I also wanted something that I could reuse time and time again,something the boys could make and be proud to display.

We did these at the start of the year along with our birthday crowns (photos to follow soon).

What you need:

Small amount of moulding clay
Cookie cutters in the shape of numbers
An old wax candle or straw
Paint
Paintbrush
Glue
Glitter
Rolling pin
Earbud aka Q-tip
Dry brush
Foil or your old silicone baking sheet

Optional (if placing number on a cake):

Foil or Baking Sheet Paper
Spray Adhesive or Double Sided Tape

What you need to do:

Roll out your clay using the rolling-pin – keep it to a thickness of about 1.5cm (0.60 inches).
Use the cookie cutter to do the number you desire.
Take the candle/straw and press down(make sure you press down straight or your candles will sit a little lopsided) press how ever many holes you desire – for the letter 5 I did 5 holes for 5 candles.

Bake on low heat (150 degrees Celsius – 302 Fahrenheit ) for no less than two hours.

Half way through turn it over.

Remove from oven and allow to fully cool off

Paint it as desired.We did solid colours to correspond with the colours of our glitter.
Allow the paint to dry.

When the paint is dry, cover number with the glue and pour on the glitter…..allow to dry.Notice I also did the sides of the number and the inside of the circle of the “6”
I cleaned the inside of the holes with an ear bud (Q-Tip) and using my dry brush removed the excess glitter.
Clean your number really well as you might want it on a cake – My suggestion stick down foil /baking paper with double-sided tape or spray adhesive to the back of the number.