Friday, October 12, 2012

DIY Tin Can Lanterns

I had some time off from work this week and thought "Hey, I haven't tortured myself with crafting lately. Time to craft!" I decided to try making these tin can lanterns I saw featured recently on The Chew. By the way, have you seen The Chew? It is my new obsession. Last week they had Cary Elwes on the show and under his name on the screen it read "Survived fire swamp!" Ha!

Anyway. Back to the tin cans. I was surprised at how easy this was to do. As you know, I am not craft inclined. In fact, when I told my sister, Mandy, what I had done, she asked me in a rather incredulous voice "Did it work out?" She then tried to backpedal and say that she just meant that "those projects on pinterest never work out." But I know she was really thinking "Oh my goodness. She crafted and it actually worked? The end of the world is near!"  I also figured I was in the clear in regards to injuries because this project didn't involve a glue gun. Well, I was wrong about that: in less than 5 minutes I was bleeding. I'm not sure why I was bleeding so I can't warn you of the hazard that awaits. Sorry folks but you are on your own with this one!

All things considered, this project worked out pretty well, and I plan on making more lanterns as soon as my fingers recover! For step by step directions and tips on how to do this craft, click on the link above. You can get the gist of it from looking at the pictures below.



My frozen cans


This is the pattern I used. Nothing fancy here.


I may have hit my finger a time or two (or 10)! Do this on a towel so you don't get ice and water everywhere.


Voila! I know they aren't perfect, but not bad for my first attempt.


I will probably paint it black. I think it will look really good with paint.

2 comments:

Kristen said...

I love these! They remind me of ones we used to make with pie tins for the holidays!

Alicia said...

I know why you were bleeding!!! SOMEONE LET YOU HAVE A NAIL AND A HAMMER!!!! ;) One word of caution is that if you paint them and then use a candle in them, make sure you use paint that can withstand heat!