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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Christmas Gifts for Mom

We just had an early Christmas during our Thanksgiving trip to Utah with my parents. My budget this year is....non-existant...so, I really struggled trying to make some nice gifts. My previous post shows the clock I made for my Dad. Men are super hard to make a gift for.

My Mom loves blue and white, Delft, Victorian, fancy etc. type items. Here is what I ended up with.

First, was a teacup pin cushion. She collects these little cups and saucers, but really...she has tons of them and so I wanted to change it up a bit. She also loves to sew. I glued the cup to the saucer with E6000 glue, added lace to the bottom of the plate, then surrounded the bottom of the cup with pearls, well pearl like beads. For the cushion I used a handful of stuffing wrapped in a piece of a nylon type book cover I had lying around. I tested it first to make sure the pins wouldn't cause it to tear easily. It worked well. I stitched it at the bottom to get the tight round effect, then stuffed it into the cup. I did add a dab of glue at the bottom. Then finished it off with a ribbon around the rim of the cup and a little pearl bead.

Next, was an altered Delft candle holder. Mom collects these too. When my husband and I were in Amsterdam last year, we brought her back a few authentic Delft items, but they are much harder to find in the US. However, my local Goodwill just happened to have this little guy on the shelf a couple of months ago. I grabbed it for 2.99 and knew I was going to do something with it for her Christmas gift.
I attached a spaghetti jar lid that I had painted metallic silver. Surrounded it with silver ribbon then glued a votive cup to the lid. I surrounded it with blue and silver lace I found at the dollar store and added in the glass beads. It was a little different, but I think she liked it anyway.

This was my favorite. When I was a little girl....a long time ago...yikes...I used to get into my mom's jewelery box. She didn't have much and most of it was the costume type, but I loved her cameo. It was dark red and just beautiful. So, when I saw this cameo on clearance at Wal-mart for $1.88 I grabbed it. I didn't know what to do with it at the time, but it fit her blue and white decor.

Well, a few days before we left for our trip to Utah, I finished off my French Vanilla Cappuccino and had this cute little tin that I had to do something with. I wrapped it in this Victorian style ribbon I had on hand. I think I bought it at Michaels in the fall sometime. Then glued the cameo on the front, added some pearls and then finished off the top with a fan of lace and a blue newspaper flower.

Finally, I gave her on of the Newspaper wreaths we made. The gold and red looked so pretty together and I found a cute gold and glittery Merry Christmas sign at the Dollar Tree and hung it in the middle of the wreath.


We had a nice visit and the Handmade gifts meant a lot more to my parents than anything I could have purchased.


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