Hello! My name is Shanda Lynn Markham and I am the new editor-in-training for the Candlemaking site here at BellaOnline.com. I am married with two teen-age boys and five canine fur-babies. My home has always been a challenge to make smell great with all the fur-babies and I’ve tried about every candle on the market! I also sold for two of the top direct sale candle companies for several years. There are aspects I loved about each company, but could not find one that held all I loved. I started dabbling with making candles many years ago and have only recently gotten very serious about it. I am a “scent snob” and proud of it! (To find out what kind of candle maker you are please refer to my article http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art70302.asp )

I have begun work on the site and re-organized some of the links. I hope that you will find them easier to navigate! I have started a new topic in the forum asking what kind of candle maker you are. You can find that thread here: http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/655199#Post655199 I look forward to reading posts and learning about you!

Candle making is not the easiest hobby out there, especially starting out. My goal is to help the new learners find all the information they need in one place. I have a strong philosophy of sharing information. That was one of my struggles with the direct sale companies. Successful consultants rarely shared how they actually became successful. If I find an amazing recipe, I am going to share that exact recipe with you! I want to grow and learn with you!

As site traffic picks up, I will be hosting a chat. How often will depend on how much interest there is. So please feel free to email me if you are interested in a chat. If there is a topic you would like to see covered in an article, please email me your suggestion! You can expect to see a new newsletter every Tuesday and new articles on Wednesdays.

How many candles do you have in each room of your house? At last count I have 41 candles (including tealights and votives) spread through out my home! To help alleviate your shock I do have several holders that hold multiple tealights or votives!

BellaOnline.com values your privacy! Your address will not be given out (not even I know your email address!), nor will you be bombarded with email from us. Once a week you will receive a Candlemaking Newsletter highlighting the new article of the week and other news pertaining to BellaOnline.com.