Thursday, April 29, 2010

Creating A Successful Outdoor Wedding

By Chris Morton

Planning an outdoor wedding? If so, then you know there is more to think about than just finding a pretty venue and renting equipment. When you are planning your wedding you will also need to consider the special needs of your guests and the uncertainty of the environment. Here are some tips for planning the perfect outdoor wedding: 

Keep the Guests Comfortable
Consider the needs of your guests when you have an outdoor wedding. If it will be cool outside, plan on providing items to help keep them warm. If it will be hot, have plenty of water and cool towels on hand. Maybe even have some parasols or umbrellas to keep the sun off of sensitive guests. Make sure the chairs remain dry and do not heat up if they are exposed to the sunshine.

Have a Contingency Plan
Having an outdoor wedding means that you are subject to environmental changes. Create a plan for things like inclement weather or sudden changes to the terrain. Usually renting a tent will work to keep things going as planned, but make sure that it will suffice to keep you and your guests dry and protected from the elements. 

Watch the Weather
Your contingency plan will usually cover you if you are planning your wedding outdoors and it rains. However, also be aware that your wedding could suffer from wind. Try to use fabrics that will hold up in the wind and ask your stylist to give you a style that will hold up on windy days.

Have a Plan for Sound
One of the most overlooked aspects of planning an outdoor wedding is the sound issue. While you may have found a serene environment in which to have your wedding, factors like the wind, waves, birds, trees, and more all find a way to block the sounds of your wedding ceremony from reaching your guests. Work with your DJ or venue to work on the sound so your guests can follow your ceremony. 

Don’t Be Bugged
Bugs are a part of life and nature and they really like to join the party. Add items like citronella candles and bug spray to your list of items to purchase for the wedding. Even a bug zapper will help keep your guests from pesky little visitors. 

Outdoor Food
Check with your caterer to be sure he or she understands the different needs of an outdoor wedding. For instance, many frostings cannot last very long in the heat, so your cake provider should be able to steer you toward correct choices. 

Stay Hydrated
If you are having your wedding on a warm day make sure your wedding party and your guests have plenty of access to water and other drinks. 

Sunny Days
Make sure you arrange your wedding so that the sun will be out of your guests’ eyes. If the sun is on the back of the guests they will be better able to actually see what is going on during the ceremony. 

Be Lawful
Finally, be sure you have all the proper permits and documentation for your outdoor wedding. Each municipality is different, so check with your city to see what you will need. Also, have the paperwork on hand to provide any authorities that come to check on your celebration. Plus, make sure you follow any limits the city imposes on your celebration like hours your band can play and sound levels.

About the Author: Chris Morton ran hotels and restaurants for 10 years, organising many successful weddings in the process. His wife Sue is a wedding coordinator who has help many nervous brides and their families. Visit http://www.theweddingwizards.com for 100's of tips showing you how to plan a great wedding day

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=159635&ca=Marriage

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Our Candles featured in Who Knew? 3

We were recently features in a book by Bruce Lubin called Who Knew? 3.  The book is available from the Home Shopping Network.  The book features shortcuts and practical advice that can help to save you money.  Additionally, the book promotes special discounts available from stores and other companies.  HeavenScent Soy Candles has included a special discount for this project and we are excited to have been included.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Candles for the Patio and Garden

Spring and summer are a great time to take your soy candles outside. There are a variety of uses from creating a welcoming atmosphere to using candles to keep pests away.

Creatively placing candles in an outdoor space can make any garden room inviting and relaxing. It is recommended that you use either unscented candles or an insect repellent variety depending on your needs. Any candle can be used outdoors and some are specifically made for that purpose.

Candles also can play a functional role on a patio or other outdoor entertaining area. Citronella scented candles will help repel gnats and other small insects around eating areas. Candles other than citronella are also available that repel insect.  These candles have a more pleasing citrus smell and work equally as well as citronella candles.  HeavenScent Soy Candles manufactures both all natural citronella candles, and an insect repellent blend candle.

Overall, candles are a great year round way to relax. The soft glow of a burning candle on a summer night is sure to help you unwind. So get outside and be sure to take your candles with you.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Happy Earth Day

April 22, 2010 is officially Earth Day in the United States.  Today is a great time to reflect on current practices and to identify areas where we can improve to conserve our natural resources.  So take a few minutes today to reflect on what you can do to help renew, reuse and recycle our limited resources to create a clean environment for the future.

HeavenScent Soy Candles has a program where we encourage local clients to reuse their candle jars through a refill program.  Our jars can also be reused for a variety of purposes such as holding fresh cut flowers, or storing small craft items.  As a business, we reuse common items everyday to help reduce costs as well as to help recycle materials.  For instance, we now use old newspapers as a packaging material.  The newspaper functions as well as new paper materials for filling boxes, additionally, it can be ultimately recycled by the consumer.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Champions For Children Fundraiser

HeavenScent Soy Candles will be participating in the Champions for Children fundraiser on Saturday April 24, 2010.  The event will be held at the Capital Area Intermediate Unit offices in Summerdale, PA from 8am to 1pm.  HeavenScent Soy Candles will have a stand set-up with our candles and are proud to be a part of this great cause.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Decorating Your Outdoor Room(On The Cheap!)

By Kathy Wilson

Outdoor rooms are extremely popular these days, and not just amongst the rich and famous! You can squeeze an outdoor room in almost any space, and decorate it to match the style and mood of your home, inexpensively!

Any room needs furniture, and an outdoor room is no exception. However, much of the patio furniture on the market today is quite expensive. You can make inexpensive resin chairs work for you, however. There are new varieties with a texture to them that looks more like wood than their slick plastic counterparts did. Look for these! Also, the white Adirondack resin chairs sell at my local discount stores from $11 to $15, and look amazingly like the real painted wood chairs, especially from a distance. Dress up your new chairs with some cushions, and they will fit right in to any décor! You can also now spray paint those chairs with a new paint from Krylon called Fusion. Pick it up for about $4 and customize cheap plastic chairs. (Hint: Look at garage sales for used ones you can repaint!)

Once you have your furniture in place, time to think privacy. Hopefully, you are protected on at least one side by a wall, fence, or building. A great way to offer yourself some more private moments is to use a trellis as an extra wall, and plant fast growing vines at its base. You can anchor the trellis in a planter to make a moveable wall. Morning glories, scarlet runner beans, and moonflower will all cover your new “wall” in no time!

If your outdoor room is protected in part from the weather, fabric curtains can be used outdoors as well. I suggest using cheap flat sheets and either a staple gun or a grommet kit. Cheap muslin can work as well, and is so inexpensive it can just be replaced the next year! This is a great technique for the end of a porch or deck, and can help control the sun as well. Be sure to use tiebacks for those times you want to let the breezes blow through.

Lighting is so often overlooked in outdoor rooms because of its expensive nature, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Candles and torches are wonderful for outdoor meals, and solar lights can be used for safety, without the expense of electrical installation. Strings of clear holiday lights are magical wrapped around a tree, or over a porch beam. Luminerias can be created with recycled cans and a punch tool, then drop a candle inside.

Finally, don’t forget accessories to add charm and style to your outdoor rooms! Pick up some unfinished bird houses at the craft store, and decorate them with paint, then hang in a group on the garden fence or wall. Use scrap lumber to paint signs for your garden room with inspirational sayings, or words. Use your hand tools as décor items and hang them on the fence or wall. Lean an old picket fence against the porch wall,( or a new one, you can get a premade picket fence piece for around $8 at the home improvement center!) then place planters of flowers in front of it. Add cut flowers in pretty pitchers and bowls from the kitchen, pick up candles at the dollar shop, and lay out a fabric napkin or two as an impromptu tablecloth.

Any way you do it, an outdoor room is worth having in any home, and with a little creative thinking can be decorated with style, comfort, and the spirit of the seasons which coax us out of doors.

About the Author: Kathy Wilson is an author, columnist, and editor of The Budget Decorator and other popular websites. For hundreds of free budget decorating ideas, visit her at http://www.TheBudgetDecorator.com.

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=61309&ca=Home+Management

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Win a $25 HeavenScent Soy Candles Gift Certificate

Visit the Leslie Loves Veggies blog to enter to win a $25 gift certificate from HeavenScent Soy Candles.  Two runners up will receive a 6oz. candle.  Click here for more information on how to enter the contest.

Good Luck!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Country Decorating Ideas For Your Home

By Bill Brennan

Do you dream of walking through endless meadows of fresh flowers or wading through meandering rivers and bubbling brooks? Does the warmth and cosiness of country living appeal to your senses? Country style rooms are warm-hearted but not prosaic; trendy but not fashion-obsessed.

Acquiring the Country Look
Rustic simplicity that is modest, unassuming and friendly forms the core of country home decor. Though flexible enough to include natural materials of all kinds, hand made period pieces, well-worn antiques as well as reproductions, country style furnishings will rarely include designs that are delicate or furniture that is formal. Look for rustic, sturdy and durable country furniture that is hand crafted; country furniture is rarely machine made.

There are several types of country decor styles, from American Rustic and European Country to Vintage or Modern Country. While sticking with one style of country decor for your entire house is a safe, simple and time saving option, the very coordinated sameness that you tried so hard to achieve can look monotonous and humdrum after a while. Mix and match complementary country-styled furnishing and give every room a refreshing yet eclectic look.

Here are a few vital elements of country style décor. Mix and match the different elements in different rooms to acquire a country look that is time-honored and yet unique at the same time.

Wooden Surfaces
Wood is the key material in rustic country style décor. For an authentic country look and feel, the style should be plain and simple, the wood unpolished, with the wood grain visible and chips and scratches completing the natural look. Cabinets, beds and tables are hand carved in oak, walnut, cherry, hickory, pine and other exotic woods. Cabinets with inlaid tiles and wooden chairs with colorful cushions enhance the beauty of natural wood and are great additions in rustic country interior decorating.

If you are hesitant to invest huge sums of money into your country style décor endeavor, you could acquire the country style look with smaller items including wooden bowls filled with usable items; wooden kitchen accessories; rustic wooden shelves and wooden containers such as large camphor boxes or smaller carved chests.

Country Texture
Textured surfaces that emphasize the beauty of natural materials are indispensable in country interior decorating. Wicker furniture and willow baskets are excellent accessories for any country style décor. They are comfortable, relatively inexpensive and impart a casual country atmosphere to any room. Colorful, terracotta bowls, plates, jugs and vases in different glazes add country color to any room.

Country Lighting
Nothing breathes country atmosphere into any room more than the warm, gentle light emanating from a live flame. No dimmer switches and railing lights in your country room. Instead go in for antique candelabras for the dining table and side tables, petroleum or candle-lit wall sconces and real petroleum lamps or chandeliers with real candles handing from the ceilings.

Country Fabric
Natural fabrics including cotton and wool are a simple, cost-efficient, yet wonderfully effective way of enhancing the rustic country atmosphere in any room. Blankets in soft, natural-dye colors; embroidered tablecloths and cushions-covers or an old sampler, framed in wood and hung up on the wall are all suggestive of country living. Avoid synthetic, man-materials of any kind. Quilts in faded, muted, subtle color combinations that hint at long usage infuse the room with an old-world country charm.

Country Accessories
Windsor chairs, Adirondack chairs, dry or fresh wild flowers, quilts, vintage baskets, blue and white ceramics, floral linens and tapestries, wire or wicker baskets, wall clocks, candle holders and wool blankets are all reminiscent of country living.

About the Author: Create a country décor with hardwood flooring or for more lavish appeal look at marble flooring.

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=198667&ca=Home+Management

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Do Something Smart And Unique: Earth-Friendly Wedding Decorations

By Amy K. Spade

It might seem wasteful to you to decorate and use all of these cut flowers in order to make a big room beautiful for one night. Are there any environmentally friendly options?

Change the setting
The easiest way to keep from using cut flowers and dried petals is to have your reception and ceremony outside. This sounds like trouble in the making, but it’s a lot easier than it sounds. If you have a large space in someone’s yard or in a park(with everyone’s permission), you can set up a large tent for the reception hall and even the ceremony if you’d like.

Since guests will be under a roof, there is little need for worrying about the weather and they can still see the beauty of the outside as they eat. Find a beautiful setting and light some lanterns around the tent, it creates a soft glow well into the evening.

New ingredients
Of course, if you’re looking for the most earth friendly eating options, you will want to select the buffet option with a limited portion of food. Any additional food can be donated to the local shelter if you’d like.

You will not be using any plastic forks or cups, so you will need a lot of glasses and silverware to make sure that you don’t run out. Napkins can be cloth and washed instead of thrown out.

As decorations, you can spread lavender along the tops of the tables and then include small tea lights as well as larger candles as needed. Find candles that burn clean (as soy ones do), and these are quite friendly to use.

If you’re looking for a centerpiece, you can choose to have tall silver or gold vases in the middle (metal) and fill them with ice and a bottle of champagne for the table. This looks great, plus it serves a function. You can then give away the vases for planters at the end of the night.

Using kegs instead of individual beer cans is a great way to cut back on waste—even if it can be recycled. Recycling tends to be more and more difficult to do as the night goes on.

Let the conversation and the happiness decorate the night, not things that you will only throw away the next day. Being earth friendly isn’t difficult when you think of other ways that you can use things after the wedding is over.

About the Author: Amy Spade is an expert on planning weddings, and she has written an amazing totally free minicourse on how to make sure that you have the day of your dreams and avoid wedding day disaster! Get the free course now by clicking Your Special Day from Start

Source: www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=28138&ca=Marriage

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

New Lower Price for Scent Samples

We have lowered the price of our scent sampler to $2.50 as a result of changing from votive candles to tea light candles.  Select five of our over 60 scents to try before buying a larger candle.  These samplers are also a great way to try our many scent options.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Perfectly Pennsylvania

A selection of our soy candles can now be purchased at Perfectly Pennsylvania located inside the Harrisburg International Airport.   Perfectly Pennsylvania is a unique gift store that features items made by Pennsylvania companies. This shop is known for their unique gift baskets.

We are happy to be working with Perfectly Pennsylvania and are glad to have them as a distribution partner.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter

HeavenScent Soy Candles would like to wish you and your family a Happy Easter!

Friday, April 2, 2010

How To Create A Room Outdoors

By Patio Furniture LLP

Many people view their garden as an extension of their house. In fact, in recent years, the phenomenon of people extending the comfort and luxury of their homes into the “great outdoors” has grown dramatically. Fuelled by this massive change of consumer interest, patio and garden furniture manufacturers are developing stylish products to enhance the comfort and convenience of entertaining outside, whatever the weather or climate.

The home’s living space can now be extended both literally and visually. There are barbeques and fireplaces of all different sizes and styles, from basic to high-tech and patio furniture and accessories that will help set any mood.

Creating an outdoor room is relatively easy. You should think about what effect you are trying to achieve; do you want it to be minimalist, light and cool, or do you want a more Mediterranean feel. Whatever look you’re after, there are some essential items that belong in any outdoor room.
  • A grilling and eating area – this is usually pulled together with a hearth product, such as a fireplace, a patio heater or a chiminea
  • Landscaping – raised flower-beds are a particularly good idea if you don’t have much space, as you can fit more in and they add interest. Tubs and a range of different heights of plants are also a good idea
  • Lighting – ambient lighting is a very important factor in creating your outdoor room, as this will not only affect the mood, but also how long you can stay outside! Try lanterns, fairy lights, candles or solar powered lights
  • Sculptures – These can help create a cohesive feeling within an outdoor space, in the same way ornaments can indoors. Try not to go overboard with these, though - one or two, depending on the size of your garden can work very well.
Other outdoor rooms take the concept further with the addition of pizza ovens, cocktail bars, water features, and pools.

About the Author: Patio-Furniture LLP has a range of beautiful garden furniture to help create the perfect outdoor room. With lots at discounted factory-direct prices, you’re sure to find something to suit your needs. Visit their website by clicking teak patio furniture

Source: www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=86281&ca=Home+Management

Thursday, April 1, 2010

April Scent of the Month - Lilac

The fresh smell of spring flowers is sure to help elevate the mood at your home or office. 

These candles smell just like a lilac and are sure to keep your thoughts of warm sunny spring days.