Bored with plain, off-the-shelf candles and don"t want to go to the trouble of making them from scratch? For an easy approach to filling your home with a wide variety of candles, check out Terry Taylor"s Decorating Candles. Using paint, metal mesh, carving, beads, wax appliqués, pressed leaves, and other materials, Taylor and contributing designers adorn pillars, tapers, pyramids, and multiwick candles with a multitude of looks. Directions are basically good and most processes simple, but there is one important caveat: although Taylor cautions us to use common sense when applying flammable materials to candles (choose large pillars that will leave a thick shell of wax around the flame, for example), many of the projects utilize paper, cardboard, ribbons, and other substances that could easily go up in flames. But the designs are generally attractive, and the ones that aren"t heatproof can still serve as lovely decorative accents without being lit. --Amy Handy