Re purposed soup tins: Garden lanterns

I love it when I can make something for nothing, and repurposing something that would otherwise end up in the bin has got to be one of the best things to do....

....not only for the environment, but also for a great sense of achievement.... 

....Today I am going to show you how I made these cute tea-light lanterns from old soup tins:

I've used an array of tricks and techniques, so apologies if this post is a tad lengthy, but keep reading.....you might pick up a trick or two....

 

This is what you will need:

Old soup tins

isopropyl alcohol or cosmetic brush cleaner

cotton wool

sandpaper/sanding block

liquid bleach

plastic spray bottle

sunshine

pen and paper to make pattern

masking tape

2ml drill bit

drill

file

pliers

wire

 Ready....?

.....lets go!

We are going to do this in 5 easy steps...

step 1

CLEANING OFF THE GLUE: 

 When you have removed the labels off your soup tins, you will probably find some glue lumps (like in the picture above)....these can be removed fairly easily in two steps:

A)hold under hot tap water then gently peel away the majority of the glue....

there will still be some stickiness left...

  

B) use some cosmetic brush cleaner/ isopropyl alcohol on a bit of cotton wool to rub away the remnants of the glue.... 

step 2 

AGEING YOUR TINS:

 

You will need some sandpaper or a sanding block, a plastic spray bottle with liquid bleach

give your tins a light sanding down...

 Pour your liquid bleach into a plastic spray bottle (I used an empty kitchen cleaner spray bottle), and spray all over the surface of the tins....

 

Leave in the sun to dry...repeat several times until you get the effect you desire... 

step 3

 

THE PATTERN 

 

You will need: a drill with 2ml drill bit and some masking tape...

....and of course a pattern...

 

Make up some patterns to fit the soup tins on some card..

...use your imagination or feel free to copy mine....

 

Stick your pattern onto the side of the soup can...closer to the bottom than the top...

 

Now you are ready to drill the holes...

 

Apply a gentle, but even pressure, so as not to make the tin buckle...

 

 Take care removing your template. .....You might want to keep it for the future....

 

 Then add a bit of masking tape across the top of the tins, like in the picture below...

.....then drill out a hole on reach side, near the top, for the wire handles to fit through. 

Now you are ready to make and fit the handles....

  But first: the H&S bit.....

step 4

 

SMOOTHING OUT THE SHARP BITS

 

 Inside your soup tins there will probably be a sharp edge at the top. Now we don't want anyone cutting their hands up trying to place a tea light in our lanterns, so this needs to go....

 Use a file, or a small hammer to bang the sharp edge down flat inside the tin...

I used a rounded metal file, and I also filed away any sharp bits inside from drilling the holes.... 

 

Finally I ran my sanding block over the inside of the tins...you can of course use normal sandpaper for this....

step 5

ADDING THE WIRE HANDLES

Get some bendable wire from your local hardware store....I used garden wire :

 

Cut it to length: You want it to double over like in the picture above...

...secure the ends of your doubled wire with a tiny bit of masking tape...

Place that end of your wire into your drill and tighten...

Sling the loop of the wire around a nail/hook or screw...

...gently power the drill while keeping the wire taught .....

This will twist your wire for the handles beautifully..

Thread the wire through one of the top holes in the soup tin you made earlier, then loop it around and through the hoop that was created when you spun the wire....pull tight...

Thread the wire through the hole on the other side...

      

 ...then use a pair of pliers to help tighten and neaten up the wire ends... 

...that's it!! 

I love the distressed look of these soup tin lanterns,

 

and they look gorgeous in the garden...

 

but they really come into their own after dark....

These would also look gorgeous on the mantle piece or hanging in a window indoors....maybe with a bit of lace added to the top rim...

 These took me about a day to make, and although there's quite a lot of processes, they are actually a really easy DIY...

...and providing you already have the tools for the job, they don't cost a thing to make...

thanks for popping by...

xxx

June



Photo onto canvas tutorial

Preparing for fathers day......

 ....how to make a quick and easy fathers day present.

 Rather than getting Mr. some cheesy socks for fathers day, I thought I'd make something a bit more special......

squeezing another DIY into our already hectic schedule this week, meant that it would have to be something quick and easy....

Then I remembered this cute little project I'd seen somewhere ages ago:

transferring a picture onto canvas using acrylic gel medium....

....without all the fuss of special printing paper and lengthy processes....

I chose to use a series of snapshots of Little Miss Moo cuddling up to her crocodile in bed.....

With no instructions and just a vague recollection of how to do it, I jumped to it...

Here's what I did:

You will need:

Canvas

Image printed out on cheap printing paper

Spray bottle with water

Acrylic gel medium

Sponge

There are a few things you need to take into consideration when doing this:

Your printer must use toner to print...

Use cheap printing paper....

Your image will be mirrored when applied to the canvas, so if you have any writing in your image, make sure you flip it in photoshop before printing.

 

 Spray image with water

.....make sure you do this on a wipe clean surface as the image will bleed...

 Apply a thick and even layer of gel medium to the canvas using a sponge...

  

Place your image face down onto the canvas 

 Smooth out any air bubbles using the sponge or your fingers....

Leave to dry over night.....

....Soak the image on the canvas with water....

 

Then very gently, using a sponge or your fingers, rub away the paper covering the image.

It is best to leave a thin film of paper over your image, as if you rub too much you risk the image itself coming off....

Allow the image to dry...

....if you feel like you need to, wet the image again and very gently rub off some more of the paper.

When you are satisfied with the clarity of the image (bearing in mind that the next step will help clarify it a bit),

let the canvas dry fully...

 

The last step is to seal the image onto the canvas with a couple of layers of mod-podge or decoupach sealing varnish....

...this will help clarify the remnants of your paper film, and gives a nice glossy finnish.

 

The Canvas came out a bit more distressed looking than I realised it would, and the colours are a bit saturated....(next time I will try it in black&white)

....but I actually quite like this look......

....and for a quick first time DIY (less than 30 minutes working time), that cost me only £3.99 for the gel medium and £1 for the canvas, I am pretty pleased with the result........

...and I'm sure Mr. will love it!!

Please pop by again on Saturday to find out how I've repurposed our old soup tins...

xxx

June

Happy monday.....

 

Little Miss Moo's corner....

 

 

There are some treasures in life that are less tangible that others.......

....the sound of you child playing by themselves on a Saturday morning, whilst you are lazing in bed is one of them...

 

 
 

 That's what happened here on Saturday....
As the morning sun came flooding in through our bedroom window, I woke to hear Little Miss Moo talking to herself in the kitchen....or shall I say: talking to her pretend friend Holly....
It made my heart skip a beat....
....one of the most soothing sounds in the world to wake up to......
 

Happiness... 

...turns out that she was playing at the kitchen table with her plasteline...

....making plates - just like mamma...
lovely little plasteline  plates in an array of colours, decorated with stickers and beads, and glazed with nail varnish...
Seems like my creativity is rubbing off on my lovely daughter...




She used my little white tea light lantern as an "oven" to cook them....


 

......before leaving them on the window sill to cool down....

 

 

  

This week I is going to be a bit manic here....

...my mum and Dad are over from Norway, and we are sorting out the final preparations for Little Miss Moo's Party on Sunday....

...and yes....we did somehow manage to book her party on fathers day....doooh!!

In addition to celebrating Little Miss Moo's birthday and fathers day this week, it is also my Dad's birthday.......

Hectic!!

So this week here at nostalgiecat I am hoping to find the time to show you how to make a lovely fathers day present, and for my Saturday DIY tutorial, I have repurposed some empty soup tins...

I hope you will stop by to check it out....

 

Have a great week folks...

 

xxx

June