So what do you do when it's time to wrap a birthday gift that measures 4' long by about 2-1/2" wide? Well I had to think about this long and hard before finally coming up with this idea!

Much of my inspiration came from the fact that my son is a volunteer for the American Red Cross and had spent many hours this past week working at several evacuation shelters put in place due to the many fires in the area. In fact, he'd missed all of the family's 4th of July activities, and then most of his birthday the following day. So I suppose it was "fire" on my mind that led me to this giant candle – made almost entirely from Stampin' Up! supplies.

I began by fashioning a long cylinder constructed from the white backing sheets that come in most of the Designer Series Paper packages. And in the process, fell in love with our new "Tear and Tape Adhesive", btw!

Once the cylinder was the proper length I made a top and bottom by tracing the openings and clipping an oversized circle of the same white backing board inwards to that pencil line, folding each tab downwards for a custom fit. I anchored the top one in place with scotch tape and then inserted the gift from the bottom and closed up that end the same way.

Then starting at the top again, I wrapped a combination of Designer Series Papers (12 x 12) and several full sheets of cardstock down the length of it, and ultimately added stars cut with the Stars Framelits. I drew and cut two layers of "flame" and glued the upright section of a bent piece of white florist wire between the two layers, taping the other section to the top of the tube.

I think David was amused and intrigued, but obviously uncomfortable when I had to go and spoil the moment by grabbing the camera, lol! 

But I was pleased to see that he had immediately noticed the card repeated the same "candle" theme – with the same colors and prints. (The finer points of having grown up in a Stampin' Up! household!!!)

But eventually the moment arrived that I'd been dreading: how to remove the gift without destroying the package? Ultimately I suggested he use a knife and cut just around the inside perimeter of the bottom, and that allowed him to slip the gift out without destroying the "packaging".

So now the question is:  a whole day later now, have his 2 little kiddos completely destroyed the candle themselves yet?