Create Your Own Christmas Tin Can Luminaries

Light your Christmas season with this simple luminaries project that you can make yourself at home. These luminaries will add a touch of homemade charm to any area of your home desired. You can either put them outside the house or group them in a corner of your room for a cozy feel. This great idea helps you to recycle because most of the materials you can find them in your house.

Materials you need:

• Unused tin cans
• White paint
• Paint brush
• Nail
• Hammer
• Candles
• Newspaper and cardboard
• Christmas cookies cutter (any Christmas theme shape that you like)
• Pencil

Here how to do it:

• Clean the tin cans and remove the labels. Leave them to dry.
• After the tins dried, apply a white paint to the outside of all the cans. When the first layer of white paint is finish, let the tins to dry again. Apply two more coats of paint and allow them to dry between each coat so the white paint will look neat and smooth on the tin surface.
• You can start begin to put on the shapes when the cans are dried. First, put a cookie cutter to trace around and then pencil the shape onto a can. The tip is to choose large and simple shapes. Reason for the tip because if there are too many corners or if it is too elaborate it will look like a bunch of dots when you are done. Or, instead of using cookies cutter, you can sketch it with your freehand swirling lines for a nice wintry blizzard look.
• Put newspaper and cardboard inside of the can to help it to retain its shape and surface as you punching the holes. It will also make the hole punching goes faster.
• Poke holes through the tin by using nail and hammer. Next, you try placing the nail’s point straight on the penciled in line and tap it strictly with the hammer until the tin is broken into.
• Larger holes achieved when you tap the nail through until its roundest point, or if you want smaller holes only let the very tip of the nail go through the tin. The best effect will be achieved when the space of the holes are evenly apart to achieved the best look.
• Paint the areas that may have been scratched while you were punching the holes. Leave the paint off to dry.
• When the paint is dry, put a candle inside each of the tin luminaries. Tip the luminary so that you can reach the candle better to light it by using a long match.

Now you and your family can enjoy the warm glow of the luminaries. Instead of ordinary candles, you can use scented sweet smelling candles to place in the luminaries to add the appeal of your home such as cinnamon, apple or pine tree. Your kids will enjoy looking at them, and tell the kids that by putting luminaries outside and lighting them you are helping Santa Claus find his way to your house!

Additional Reading:
http://www.creativehomemaking.com

Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/milletre/2968697966/