30 Days of Flowers - Day 13 - Tin Can Flower LIghts

Certainly some of you have the same problem as I do; what to do with those silly soup cans that have that mean ridge around the top. 

You know the one that cuts you when you slip your hand inside of it? Well, I just couldn't bring myself to let go of these things. I was sure they would find favor in my crafty life someday somehow. Today they are the stars.

I have been wanting to make can lights for some time and since I am on the flower theme this month, this is what we ended up with this afternoon.

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Supply List:

• 6 Soup cans
• 1 mushroom can
• 22 gauge wire
• Hammer
• Small Philips screwdriver
• Large Flat head screwdriver
• String of lights.
• Misc. embellishments
• Tacky Glue

My husband took his drill with him today, so I used the good old fashioned method of tapping a hole in each side of my cans with a small Phillips screwdriver and hammer.

After each can has a hole in it, string them together with your wire and tie and twist it off in the last can. *Use caution, the tin cans are very sharp when cut*

Now you will need to tap a hole in the bottom of your cans to place the lights into. I did this by first tapping with the smaller screwdriver (Phillips) and then going back over it with a large Flathead screwdriver and twisting it. It gave me a nice circular space to put the lights into.

I pushed the excess wiring into the middle space of the cans and then used heavy duty tape to hold them in place on the bottom of the can.

Now use your can opener to remove the other side of the smaller can (mushroom can) so that both side are open. Place this can in the middle of the other cans pushing the excess wiring into it, to help balance our the flower shape.


I then used tacky glue to help all the cans stick together better. Also, I placed clips during the drying process on each can.

Also, I had some metallic ribbon that I glued around the cans on the outside to hide the wire and for some color, I did not want to use paper or cloth because of the heat from the lights. Although, they are low heat, there is always a chance of fire, so the metallic ribbon worked nicely. I used small pieces of the same ribbon scrunched up in the cans to add color on top fo the lights as well.
To top off the middle of the flower, where there was no risk of the lights touching anything, I placed one of the paper roses I made on Day 1 of 30 Days of Flowers.

There you have it. Cheap recycled lighting with a little class. 

That is it for Day 13. Until tomorrow....

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