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DIY: Festive Lantern Garland

13 December 2013  |  Nicola

 

One of the best things about the festive season is the dark evenings, spent cosied up on the sofa with a good cup of tea, some Christmas nibbles and flickering candlelight. Today, we're going to show you how to make a festive lantern garland from some old tin cans and some of our favourite StickyTiger craft supplies; decorated with colourful printed papers, decorative Washi tape and embellished ribbons, these lanterns look just as good in the daylight as they do in the dark.

To make a festive lantern garland of your own, you'll need:

Tin cans of various sizes (large cans that used to contain baby formula are great for larger lanterns that will sit outside)

Printed paper or wrapping paper

Jewellery wire

Various beads

Washi tape and ribbons

Bakers twine 

Mod Podge

Needle-nose pliers

Hammer

Nail 

1. Remove the labels from your cans, and clean them thoroughly. Fill them with water, and place in the freezer overnight.

2. Once the water has frozen hard, remove the cans from the freezer and decide on the design for your holes - either traditional festive Christmas trees and hearts, or quirky geometric patterns. Anything goes!

3. Using the hammer and nail, punch the holes into the sides of the can - the frozen water stops the can from buckling inwards as you hit the nail. Once you've finished the design, make two holes to attach the wire handle at the top.

4. To melt the ice quickly, run some warm water over the cans. While you're waiting, make a cup of tea!

5. Once the cans are dry, cover your cans. Printed scrapbook paper and wrapping paper are great, and there are loads of resources online for vintage music sheets and retro Christmas designs; there's literally something for everyone. Washi tape is also great to use as a base - the fact that it's re-positionable means you can change your mind halfway through if you like!

 

6. Using the Mod Podge, add the decorations; layer up Washi tape, paper shapes and ribbon until you get them right - the Mod Podge will give it a nice, tough finish while keeping the surface flat.

7. To make the holes in the decorated layer, find the places you punched through with the nail, and push a pin through from the inside to the outside - you'll be able to see where to push the nail through so the holes are a decent size.

8. Lastly, add the handles; they're going to need to be fairly long, as the candle will throw up quite a lot of heat. Attach one end of a piece of wire through one hole, twist and curl the end over using your needle nose pliers, and then add the beads. Fasten the other end through the other hole, and then twist the middle of the handle into a loop - the string will sit neatly in here when you hang them up.

 

9. Attach the bakers twine through the loops, hang up and light the candles. Grab a mince pie, put your feet up and enjoy the twinkling lights!

 

The following StickyTiger items can be seen in the photos:

StickyTiger craft supplies
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