Only a couple more days until the big celebration weekend! There's still plenty of time to crank these out for your gathering.
You'll need:
- Empty vegetable or soup cans - clean and without labels
- Water
- Nail
- Hammer
- Scrap paper
- Ruler
- Tape
- Spray paint in red, white, and blue
1. Begin the tin can luminaries by filling the cans up to the top with water, then place them in the freezer until the water is frozen solid. This will allow you to hammer a nail into the side of the can without the can denting.
2. Next, think about some designs you want to punch into the sides of the can.
3. Continue making the tin can luminaries by using a nail and hammer to punch out the design. Start at one end of the pattern and place the nail along the line. Gently pound the nail in with a hammer. The nail will go through the can into the ice. Continue working around the pattern until the design is punched out.
4. Allow the ice in the can to melt, and dry the can completely.
5. Next, spray the bottom portion of the cans blue with the blue spray paint. Protect your work surface with newspapers and use good ventilation
6. When the cans are completely dry, cut a piece of scrap paper to wrap around the can. Make it 1/3 the height of the can. The cans I used were 4.5 inches high, so I made my first strip of paper 1.5 inches. Wrap the paper around the bottom part of the can, covering the blue painted area, and tape it closed.
7. Now take the cans outside again and this time give them a good spray of the white spray paint, and allow the cans to dry well. When they are dry you can remove the paper strip.
8. Next, make another paper strip 2/3 the height of the can. Secure around the blue and white portions of the can, leaving only the top portion exposed, and secure with tape. Take the cans outside again and this time spray the top section with the red spray paint, and allow to dry. Remove the paper strip and you will see the pretty red, white, and blue stripes.
9. If you want to further decorate the tin can luminaries, this is the time to do it. If you would like the designs you punched to show up better you can paint them a different color, such as black. When you are ready to illuminate, add a little sand to weigh down the cans and add a tea light candle.
credit: crafts-for-all-seasons.com
What an easy, festive table decoration!
Posted by: Jennifer Gesch | July 01, 2009 at 09:18 PM
I featured this on my blog. Great idea!
http://creativeentertaining.blogspot.com/2009/07/countdown-to-4th.html
Posted by: Jaime | July 02, 2009 at 01:30 PM
This is an awesomeidea, thanks for sharing...
Take Care :)
Posted by: Jodie | July 05, 2009 at 06:24 PM