Meet a Heritage Banker with a Burning Desire for Making Fragrant Candles

I’ve worked in banking for more than 20 years, but I’ve had an artistic and entrepreneurial flair since childhood. Combine that with my appreciation for pleasing smells—flowers, lotions, perfumes, fresh air, ocean breezes, spices, citrus, pine, coffee (the list is long)—and the ingredients were there for candle-making.

That’s been my side hustle for five years now. I launched Scandi Co. Candles in 2020 and sell my creations, made with all natural ingredients, at several stores and seasonal events on Whidbey Island, Washington, where I live and work. They’re also sold online through my website.

Candle making keeps me busy on the weekends; it fulfills the creative side of my brain, and I’m not one to sit still on days off anyway. Mixing wax and fragrant oils gives me an artistic outlet that fills me up as a person. I also enjoy that my candles evoke sensory happiness in others.

My first candle fragrances were inspired by concepts important to Scandinavians: mandatory coffee breaks, appreciation for the outdoors and enjoying life’s little pleasures like reading a book and cozying up to a fire. As someone born in Minnesota with significant Swedish ancestry, plus some Norwegian, Finnish and Danish thrown in for good measure, I saw the similarities to what we in the Pacific Northwest also enjoy.

My main fragrances are Outdoorsy, Coffee Break and Hygge/ Cozy. Hygge, pronounced who-ga or hue-ga, is a Danish concept of being cozy, comfortable and enjoying the moment. Hygge/Cozy has a fragrance of cinnamon and sugar, or a little bit of sweet and spicy.

Outdoorsy has a pine scent with a hint of teakwood and tobacco, giving it a woodsy-smoky scent. Coffee Break plays off a tradition in Sweden to take an hour each afternoon to have coffee and talk with friends, family or co-workers and maybe enjoy a piece of cake, so this fragrance has a coffee and cinnamon bun scent.

My product line also includes Salish Seas, Tropical Breeze, Spa Day, Pink Magnolia and Cloudberry. Others include twists on popular drinks: Apple Bourbon, Black Cherry Merlot, Espresso Martini, Mint Mojito, Pear Prosecco, Paloma Party, Italian Limoncello and Colada Crush. Popular scents during the holidays are Gnoel, Lingonberry Spice, Gingersnap and Holiday Hygge.

I purchase my fragrance oils from a company in Bellingham, Washington. I blend the oils into my melted wax, then pour each candle by hand into individual jars. I include accents in some of my candles; for example, I press a few coffee beans into the wax for the Coffee Break candle. I also make a gingerbread cookie-scented candle at Christmastime that has eco-friendly glitter sprinkled on top.

I make all my candles in my kitchen, but I hope to build a studio in my backyard someday to have a dedicated workspace.

How it all started

You might say the business’s roots date back to my childhood, when at seven, I made beaded jewelry packaged with my handmade labels and price tags. I loaded the packages in my wagon and pulled my mobile jewelry store through the neighborhood, knocking on doors. The “business” fanned my entrepreneurial flame.

Many years later, I got the idea for candle making after buying a kit to do something fun with my kids.

I had fun and my candle making passion was lit. Previously, I bought candles for our home that contained ingredients I couldn’t pronounce. I wondered: Why not make my own candles with natural ingredients and fragrances I liked?

I began experimenting and found my homemade candles burned clean, smelled wonderful, lasted a long time and did not induce headaches in my scent-sensitive family. I use an all-natural soy/coconut wax blend that burns cleanly and evenly, resulting in a longer burn time. My products are Made Better certified, a symbol for clean and eco-friendly materials.

Where to find Scandi Co. Candles

My candles are sold at Whidbey Island locations that include Linds and Fare Market, both in Freeland, and Island Boutique in Langley. Also on the island, I have participated in Cultus Bay Gardens’ winter and summer arts and crafts market in Clinton, featuring Washington artisans and their wares, and Whidbey Jammin’, a summer music festival in Freeland that includes a vendor market.

If you visit Arizona, my candles are in Classy-Jazzy Cutique in Fountain Hills, a shop for women’s clothing and accessories that was the first business I owned and operated as a side hustle, starting in 2012. After a couple years, I left banking to manage the store and be a mom, then sold it when we moved to Washington in 2017, the same year I returned to banking with Heritage. I remain connected with the woman who bought the store, hence my shelf space there.

If you’re not on Whidbey Island or in Arizona, I sell the candles through my website, www.scandicocandles.com

My candles come in colorful jars with fun and colorful labeling, also my design. The labels denote, “Made on Whidbey.”

Candle sizes include 2.5 ounce, 8 ounce and 12 ounce, and they range in price from $29 to $49. Bigger candles burn longer. I’ve had customers tell me they’ve burned some candles for more than 50 hours—but in my opinion, you can never have too much hygge.

Lindsay Kelley is branch services officer at the Freeland branch of Whidbey Island Bank, a division of Heritage Bank. She’s been with the bank since 2017 and in banking for more than 20 years, starting as a teller.