What if you were told there is a way to combine the mystique of a candle with the sounds and smells of wood crackling in an open fire? Does that sound too good to be true? This is exactly what you can do as soon as you start burning wood wick candles.

If you haven’t heard of them, that’s alright, wood wick candles are a newer style of candle on the market. Instead of the cotton wick you are accustomed to seeing coming out of the center of candles, wood wick candles have just what the name says, a wick made out of wood. At first glance, you may think someone has put a small stick in the middle of a beautiful candle. That small stick is your new wick.

Here are a few benefits of a wood wick candle:

When the wood burns, it will remind you of days in front of the fireplace or around the campfire. You will hear that old familiar crackling sound as the flame breaks apart the pieces of the wood that make up the candle wick.

Second is the scent. Even without any scent in the candle, the wood wick will give off a scent of it’s own. It’s a light wood-burning scent. It’s that same scent that may linger out of your fireplace, or that is sticking in the air at the campsite, the morning after you sat around a fire all night, toasting marshmallows and singing a few songs.

Both of these features add a great amount of ambiance and an air of the olden days to your candle burning experience.

Another benefit of wood wick candles is their long life. Wood wick candles can last 100 hours or more, depending on the size of the candle. That can translate to many romantic nights of sitting around a faux fireplace.

It is important to note that the flame from wood wick candles can get higher than regular candlewick flames. This may be part of the reason that wood wick candles come in jars; it is a safety measure. While this looks lovely in the fireplace, if you are putting wood wick candles on a counter area of your home, you should take a careful look around to make sure there is nothing nearby that can be damaged by a leaping flame.

When you want to up the impact of wood wick candles, you can add scents into the mix. While you already have the scent of burning wood coming from the candle, and for many people that is enough, if the candle itself is scented, that will add another layer of scent. By choosing a scent that brings back memories or other favorite smells, it can be a complete treat for your olfactory senses.

Whether it’s a cold winter day, or the middle of the summer, you can still create a romantic winter getaway in your home by putting a series of wood wick candles in the fireplace. Light them up, turn down the lights and reminisce. Once you light them up, you will have the soft, flickering glow of fire combined with the crackling sound of burning wood, and even a little bit of the scent that goes with the wood burning. If you really want to do it right, look for appropriate winter-theme candles such as pine or ginger bread.

Jar candles are a great addition to any home for a number of reasons:

- Jar candles are safer than many candles. Being self-contained, and in a large balanced jar, there is less chance that they will topple over and start a fire in your home.

- There is less of a chance of a dripping mess when using jar candles. Since they are inside a jar, melting wax stays inside the candle containers. If you have ever had a candle overflow, you know how frustrating this can be. Jar candles are an especially great relief when you have the candle sitting atop an heirloom tablecloth.

- While tapers and other smaller candles have to be changed out regularly, jar candles will be with you for a while. Some jar candles can have 100 hours of burn time, or more. This means great scents and that warm glow day after day after day.

- Jar candles are great for scent variety. Most jar candles come with a lid. That means you can close off one scent and open up another when you decide it’s time to change the mood in your home.

Now that you know why you want jar candles, you need to know what to do with them. Here are a few tips.

When it comes to decorating your home with jar candles, don’t think they have to be lonely. Many people think since jar candles are often bigger than regular candles they should only use one jar candle at a time, maybe with a little decorative accent around it. This is far too limiting of a role for your jar candles. If you have a large table, a grouping of three jar candles will be just fine. You also may want to look at mixing up the visual effect by choosing jar candles of a few different sizes and grouping them together in the middle of the table. You can then decorate around the candles and create a complete centerpiece look.

Another great thing about jar candles is that you can decorate them to suit your home. Instead of the label they come with on the front, you can put your own personal label on jar candles. Whether it is a greeting card you love, a family photo that you think is cute or any other design, you can carefully glue that image to the outside of the jar candle and make it not just a great scented candle, but also one in a candle holder that is all your own.

Even though it’s spring, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great looking fire in the fireplace. While you may not want to put a bunch of logs in there and light them up, radiating heat, what’s to say you can’t create the look of a fire in your fireplace? Instead of logs, put a set of jar candles in the fireplace. Once you light them up, they will give off a beautiful glow and create that warm cozy feeling you love about your fireplace, without the heat. If you are missing winter, you can even choose scents like pine that will take you back to the chillier weather. If you really want to brighten things up, you should put a mirror behind the candles to double the glow.

Jar candles are a must. They really are the work horses of the candle world. Just a few of these beauties can go a long way towards completing the decorations in your home.

How do they make candles that smell so wonderful, can set a mood and can bring back memories of days past, by being perfectly scented.

It’s all about science, fragrance and oils.

Candles are scented with fragrance oils. These are a combination of a liquid fragrance and an oil that make a thicker liquid solution. If you think about it, most of the things in your life have some of these oils in them. It could be the scents that make your shower gel seem like a summer breeze or the fragrance that makes your dish-washing soap smell like a ripe lemon. Scents are in almost everything these days. Why, then, do candles seem so much better when it comes to scents?

When it comes to the scent of an individual candle, it all depends on how much of the fragrance is mixed into the wax as the candle is being created. When the wax is hot, this fragrance is added and mixed into the wax solution. Then the candles are poured or formed into their final design. As they cool, the fragrance cools inside the wax. While you can still smell the scent when you lift up the cooled candle, you won’t get to all the scenting until you burn the candle.

As the wick melts the wax, those drops of fragrance that were attached to the solid wax are freed and are released into the air. This is what creates the scents that you smell when you light candles in your home.

Now that you know what how the scent got there and how it gets out, you may be wondering why not all candles have the same amount of scent.

This is usually an issue of quality manufacturing. Those fragrance oils used to create the scents in candles are often the most expensive part of the candle. For this reason, many manufacturers try to save a few pennies here and there by putting fewer drops into their mixture. They may do this in one of two ways. They will either put less fragrance into the fragrance oil solution, or they will put less of the fragrance oil solution into the candle mixture. Either way the results are the same. You are getting less scent than you had hoped.

The only way to make sure you get well-scented candles is to look for those that are quality candles, made by companies that understand the delicate balance involved in making a great candle.

What about those ‘triple scented’ candles, you may be asking. If you have seen the labels promising ‘more scent’ or even ‘triple scent’ you may think this is just what you want, three times the scent for your money. This is not always the case. Many times their ‘triple scented’ candles are what should be in a single scent candle. They just don’t use as much fragrance in their regular candles. Essentially, they are charging you more for what you should be getting in the first place.

While you may be tempted by many lower quality scented candles because of their price, once you get home, you will often be disappointed by the results. Instead, get to know a quality candle. Once you appreciate the work that goes into proper scenting, you will never turn back.

For many people, spring is a time to open their home to friends and family and start to enjoy the fact that it’s warm enough to head outdoors once again.

It could be a time to appreciate the first flowery blooms of the season, and enjoy teatime with the ladies.

No matter how you choose to welcome spring into your home, there are a lot of ways candles and can be worked in to help you welcome the season.

Flowery Fragrance

The main thing people think about in spring is flowering blooms and nature coming back to life after a very dormant winter. While you may not have the best green thumb, and also may not have a flowering paradise in your yard, you can use candles to take part in the season. Purchase candles scented with appropriate flowers of the season such as jasmine, and enjoy the scent of the blooms.

If you want to really do this right, consider adding some pressed flowers to the candles that are going to be set out. This is done by heating a utensil, such as a spoon, and lightly holding it against the side of the candle. The heat will soften the wax, allowing you to press the flower into the candle surface creating a visual and scent spring display.

April Showers

One thing many people expect in spring is the rain that will keep those flowers blossoming throughout the season. After all, where do you think the ‘April showers bring May flowers” line came from. If you don’t want a house overtaken by the scent of flowery blooms, you instead may choose to appreciate the rain that will bring those flowers to life outside.

There are rain-scented candles that can be lit in your home to fill the air with the scent of air that has been cleaned by a soft spring shower. Additionally, many of these candles come in beautiful shades of blue that can be used not only to scent the room, but also as an attractive addition to your décor.

Spring Harvest

Not only flowers are seen in the spring, but some fruits and vegetables start to bloom this time of year as well. These are scents that can be brought into your home to make the air always appetizing. Among the fruits that are in season now are blueberries, cantaloupe, cherries, pineapples, raspberries and strawberries. Additionally, vegetables such as cucumbers are in season at this time as well.

Any combination of these scents can be put together in your home to give it an air of a spring harvest.

Spring Weddings

Spring is a very popular time for weddings. If you are helping to decorate for one of these weddings, you may be looking for a unique way to ’say spring’ in the décor. Instead of traditional centerpieces, why not use candles appropriate to the season.

You should be able to find candles in white, or in appropriate wedding colors that are scented with some of the aromas of spring. From flowers to fresh fruit, these candles can be used as part of a floating centerpiece. Small crystal bowls, or even large mouthed crystal goblets can be filled with water and floating scented candles can be placed in the water and lit for a romantic effect and pleasing scent.

Every season has it’s themes, colors and scents to match. Make a stronger impact this spring by adding spring-themed candles to your home or event décor.

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The use of aromatherapy is very popular. The concept is that by selecting different scents, you can change your mood, feel better, revitalize, think more clearly, and even heal various ailments. This is often done with scented jar candles.

Many people use aromatherapy, but don’t realize it. They know they are drawn to particular scents and that when they smell those aromas they feel better, but they don’t connect the two.

Often, once people start to better understand aromatherapy, they want to have a number of scented candles around, so they can have the right one on hand. It is this reason that calls for the recommendation of scented jar candles. These candles can stay closed, keeping the scents strong inside, until you are ready to use them. After they are done, you can close them up again, assuring they will be able to release that coveted scent the next time you use them.

Quick Reference to Aromatherapy Scents

Here is a quick reference of a number of scents and their aromatherapy properties:

Apple - Apple is a scent of love and peace of mind.

Bayberry - If you want to bring a little luck to your home, or your wallet, burn a bayberry candle.

Cinnamon - If you need to regain a little focus in your life, cinnamon is said to be the scent to help you do it.

Citronella - While most people think this scent is just to make bugs go away, it also is said to bring friends to you. If you run a business, it may bring new customers.

Eucalyptus - Whether you are physically sore or mentally hurt, eucalyptus is the candle you should have burning. This isn’t just for injuries, but also ailments such as the flu.

Grapefruit - Getting a clear view of things and getting your head in the right place is helped along by the scent of grapefruit.

Jasmine - The scent of jasmine is said to get the creative juices flowing. It also helps clear out any dark clouds that may be hanging around your mind.

Juniper Berry - If you’re ready to just let your stresses go, juniper berry is the relaxing scent you are looking for.

Lavender - Dealing with extra stress? The scent of lavender is said to deliver peace, calm and stability to the person who smells it. It’s also said to help in getting rid of a headache.

Lemon - Lemon is a scent that helps you get your thoughts in order and be able to concentrate on them.

Lilac - Do you feel like you have become forgetful lately? The scent of lilac is said to help in strengthening memory and aid in decision making.

Orange - If you need a little energy, or just to smooth out the energies around you, orange is the scent to take in.

Peppermint - Peppermint is a scent that will help you get your head back on straight, said to bring clarity and concentration.

Pine - Feel a lot of negative emotions are following you around? Light a pine scented candle to clean the air.

Rose - Rose is the flower of love for a reason. The scent of rose is said to aid in love as well as bringing harmony in one’s life.

Sage - Another air cleaning scent, sage is said to help clear up negative moods and feelings that seem to be surrounding you.

Sandalwood - If you can’t calm your mind down and are doing a lot of worrying, it’s time to light up a sandalwood candle. Sandalwood is a scent that is believed to calm the mind and promote healing.

Vanilla - Ready to recharge? Light a vanilla candle. The scent of vanilla puts happiness in the air and charges it with energy. It’s also said to bring good fortune.

Whether you just need to relax at the end of the day, or pick up your mood after an being on an emotional rollercoaster, using scented jar candles and aromatherapy can help you remove the dark cloud much more quickly, and let you get back to enjoying life, and the scents it has to offer.