How Did I Become the Candle Lady?...and What is Up for 2015?

Pottin' Shed soy candle hand poured at The Junk Ranch

It seems like I've become known now as the "candle lady" around these parts. I do love making them, burning them, and sharing them with friends and family.

Me in 1990 I believe sitting on an early floorcloth design

As I logged into my Facebook page this morning to post something about...yep, candles...I noticed that I had hit 2800 LIKES. Not bad for a neglected page, but it also hit me that all the new members knew was that I am a candle maker. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but...

For a while I've been feeling a little lost. I'm currently stretched so thin I am not really sure what it is that I DO anymore.

When I started this little junk business in 2009, I got into it in a big way if you will remember. I wanted to make a change from being a floorcloth designer and artist for over 20 years...I wanted to fly by the seat of my pants and do something different every day...and I have. The junk biz has evolved and changed over the years. Bigger some years than others or not at all at times...like now.

2nd Annual Spring Country Marketplace here at the ranch

I've had occasional sales on my own, hosted vendor sales here on the farm with friends and business acquaintances, added a vintage rental option to my shop, had many antique booths , and sold things on Ebay, Etsy and Craigslist. I even hosted a junk workshop and filled my little studio up with wall to wall people resulting in really cool and innovative functional art pieces. I think I may have even inspired a handful of my girlfriends to start their own junk businesses!

Junk Camp 101

My sweet studio and shop

My shop's candle corner

But for the last year, for the most part, I've just made soy candles. Lots of candles. I never intended to do this, but it happened. Sometimes it bothers me, knowing that I'm capable of much more, but yet I do this....well, it doesn't bother me too much...but, 

I have made candles because: 

#1 I enjoy it and I personally burn candles daily

#2 I give them as gifts and donations. 

#3 I have great customers that continue to buy them

#4 That's all I can manage to do right now that remotely looks like the Junk Ranch is still alive.

Once upon a tine, I had wayyy to much stuff. This is only the front half of the shop a couple years ago

I love to style merchandise and photos!

Not many people remember, or maybe never knew, but before I became an artist I was an interior designer. After getting my degree, I worked for several years in High Point working in showrooms and with residential clients. When I became a mom, we decided that I should be a work at home mom and my floorcloth business was started. I had a few design jobs during my art career, but nothing major. There wasn't time. I had a great 20+ year run designing and hand painting floorcloths for clients all over the US. In 2009, I decided to switch gears and try to do more interior design as the handmade/vintage industry was beginning to boom. It was a natural transition, considering we have lived this way in our own home for nearly 30 years. 

A peek at some of the old pick wick boards in our daughter's cottage

I love design and color and space planning. I'm finally getting my fill these days while working on our daughter's house; a small little 70 year old cottage near my parents' home. Working on her house has inspired me to work on our own as well. The cobbler's kids have no shoes...and parts of our home looks like it did at the turn of the century. 

Did I mention pet portraits?...did that too

Being a shop keeper, booth vendor, candle maker, wife, mama, caretaker for 4 dogs and 2 cats and 2 horses, vegetable gardener, herb gardener and house keeper has completely frazzled me!...and now we have Erin's house renovation to finish.

Being a one-woman show is no longer important to me. Having it all has left me missing my favorite things in life:

*spending time with my family and friends...

* sketching and painting...

*decorating our own house...and enjoying relaxing there

  *riding my horse...

*actually, using all of the vegetables and herbs I grow

....and lots more if I continue to peck...

What I'm getting to is...I'm about to move on to the next big thing. ME. 

I'm doing it without guilt. I'm doing it without permission or validation from anyone else. I'm just doing it. I will continue to make and sell a few candles. We will finish the renovation and we will have a nice holiday season.

The new blog will be more concise and clean...and more the ME I am today...or the one I'm at least striving to be. We are re-learning (is that a real word?) to live simply here in our little corner of the world and I am excited to share on a more personal level the things I love and what I do on a daily basis. Not that it's all that exciting, but it should be somewhat more interesting...tutuorials, DIY, gardening, home keeping, animal keeping...you know, just life here on the farm, but with the same cowgirl spirit that started this blog in the first place. 

So, for now, until the end of the year...I am the candle lady. In 2015 I am just Angie.  See you soon!

UPDATE: This is my last post here...continue on to The JunkRanch  to the new website.

Limited Edition Autumn Harvest Soy Candles

Autumn Harvest Soy Candles Limited Edition

Fall officially arrives in five days. I've been burning my Pumpkin Souffle candle since Labor Day. I just couldn't wait. This is my favorite candle burning season. I absolutely love smelling the spices associated with Fall.

Autumn Harvest Collection Pour

This collection smells like a country kitchen. Making them was a heavenly experience. Each day when I would come in from the studio I could smell the day's work in my hair and on my clothes. Each day, I smelled like butter and spices. OMG! 

This year, we have our two best sellers, Pumpkin Souffle and Buttered Rum along with three new scrumptious fragrances...Maple Nut Fudge, Pumpkin Applebutter, and Sweet Potato Pie.

Maple Nut Fudge

You can almost taste these candles! Maple Nut Fudge is a tempting blend of nutty walnut, maple, vanilla, cinnamon and chocolate with just a sweet surprise...a touch of tangerine. 

Pumpkin Apple Butter

I can't say that I've ever eaten Pumpkin Apple Butter, but now I am more likely to start hunting down a recipe! Imagine notes of orange, apple, pear, pineapple and cherries; middle notes of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove with base notes of warm vanilla. Well, there you have it...only better in real life.

Sweet Potato Pie

My oh my...What do you get when you combine candied yams, marshmallow cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest, a splash of lemon and buttery southern crust? Sweet Potato Pie. 

This is a limited edition pour and I will stock them until Thanksgiving or until they are gone. All five fragrances come in 8 oz. and 16 oz mason jars. Pumpkin Souffle and Buttered Rum are also available in assorted Pyrex cups as in past seasons. Don't wait. Enjoy them now! 

You can purchase candles from me here at the studio by appointment or have them shipped to your door 

                                   or

 from Charmed, 3407 D Archdale Rd. Archdale NC

Coffee Collection Soy Candles

Coffee scented soy candles at the Junk Ranch

The coffee is ready....

My new coffee soy candle collection is ready and smelling up the studio with the most wonderful rich aromas of coffee beans, hazelnut and vanilla...and that's just the cold throw. This is another thing I love about soy wax; it smells as good just sitting there as it does lit. Cold, they offer a light scent within a few feet. Lighted, the scent throw definitely fills a large room and in some instances, several.

When just poured they look like the real deal

The coffee collection consists of three customer favorites...the first being Hazelnut Coffee. Not much I can say here to describe it other than mouth watering. If you are a coffee lover this is classic. 

The second one, I call Cup'A Joe. It smells just like it sounds...like a strong cup of fresh brewed coffee.

And, lastly, there is French Vanilla Latte, for the Starbucks crowd. It's a good balance of expresso and vanilla.

4 oz. soy candles in coffee fragrances

They are available in various coffee mugs, cups and 4 ounce jars..that are actually nice to take with you when you travel.

These are now available year round as well as our summer favorite Sippin' Sweet Tea. 

You can purchase candles from me here at the studio by appointment or have them shipped to your door 

                                   or

 from Charmed, 3407 D Archdale Rd. Archdale NC