fun summer lighting | tin can lantern diy

I feel like summer’s finally here and I’m looking forward to hanging outside, longer days, fewer kids’ activities and no school!! I’ve been working on redoing our patio – or I should say our old-swing-set-area-that-we-are-trying-to-make-into-a-patio. It’s getting there and I hope to show you final pictures in the next week or so. I’m still searching for a table and contemplating creating my own but it’s a daunting project. I’ve been doing a lot of research on table do-it-yourself projects but I think you could just say that I’m procrastinating! Maybe I’ll have it figured out by the fall!

I have found some great outdoor pieces for this space and we even made our own fire pit {post coming later this week!}. But that table… ugh. I also thought we would need outdoor lighting but since I’ve started this project, we really don’t need any extra lighting out there. We have spot lights on our house that add light to this area and the adjacent pool area has it’s own lighting so I think adding another isn’t necessary. I do think some subtle lighting like candles and lanterns would look nice and maybe keep away the pesky mosquitos. I found some  candles and even some citronella sticks that will look great. But I’ve been seeing tin can lanterns all over pinterest and other diy websites and I thought they would add an extra handmade touch. This is a fun, easy craft that will help “light up” your summer nights too. Hee hee….

Tin can lanterns – what you’ll need:

tin cans {left over from pasta sauce, canned vegetables, etc.}
hammer
nails
spray paint
sand
candles {can do regular or citronella}
wire if you want to hang them

Steps:

1. Collect random tin cans and remove the labels and clean throughly. You can use goo-gone to remove any left over glue. Or once the can is frozen {see step 2}, I  just chipped away at the frozen glue and it came off fine.

2. Fill cans with water and freeze. This will help your can to keep it’s shape.

3. Once the water is frozen, take the can out of the freezer and place it on a solid surface. To help prevent it from rolling around, I took a dish towel and shaped it in a circle and placed the can in the middle of the towel. Not fool proof but it helps.

4. Use your hammer and tap a nail into the can to create your design {FYI – it’s pretty easy to hammer through the tin}. You have several options for a design: you can use a sharpie and place dots on the can to “draw out” your design, you can print out a picture and tape it to the can or you can just wing it – which is what I did. I decided to do a leaf pattern but I also like the idea of just a random pattern of dots. You can even use different size nails to create some variation in your design.

5. Once your design is done, spray paint the can your desired color. I love the natural tin finish but it will rust. So I did a few in a color and used a clear enamel rust-resistant spray paint on the ones I wanted to leave the silvery tin color. I used a piece of scrap paper and placed it inside the can when spray painting it. This helped prevent the paint from getting inside the can.

6. Make sure the cans are dry and apply a few coats of paint if needed. Once dry, add sand and a candle. You can also add 2 more nail holes on equal sides of the can and string a wire through it and hang them.

7. Light and enjoy!

Be on the lookout for more on our summer patio redesign and all the diy projects and fun pieces we’ve  found!