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Patriotic Tin Can Wind Chimes

One of the crafts I had the children make during my church's summer day-camp was tin can wind chimes. There where some primed cans left over that I couldn't bear to throw away. When I saw that my mother-in-law (aka Maca) had pinned this patriotic wind chime, the boys and I decided to surprise her. 

busy at work 

Our supplies:

primed food cans (various size with whole drilled in bottom),
acrylic paint, brushes, mod podge, fishing line, washers,
foam star stickers, glitter pins, jingle bells 

*you can use unprimed cans and/or tempera paint but the colors will
be less  opaque and vibrant. 
Step 1: paint cans

it took a little encouraging to get the boys to cover
the whole can in paint.

big buddy had the brilliant idea of using a pencil
eraser to make polka dots - "maca loves red and
polka dots, she going to be so happy"

Step 2: when paint is dry, decorate cans with glitter pins and foam stickers
Step 3: cover cans with a layer of mod-podge, let dry
Step 4: thread fishing line (18" to 24" long) through hole in cans and securely tie a washer on the end
Step 5: tie 3-4 cans (jingle bells optional) together & hang 


our finished chimes, we gave one to maca, kept one for ourselves, and mailed the
others off some other loved ones. 
Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 2, 2012 at 11:42 PM

    Wow, those really look great. We've been saving a variety of cans for awhile, and have a few different ideas on what to do with them... but these chimes look so great we may just have to go that route!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 6, 2012 at 4:16 PM

    Those came out quite cute! I bet the loved ones you send the others too will be so excited, I know I would. Very festive!
    Carolyn http://sillyhappysweet.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 6, 2012 at 11:33 PM

    Ooh these are very cool. Great idea! I love using recycled materials as much as possible. Thanks for linking up to The Sunday Showcase!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Charlene JulianiJuly 7, 2012 at 3:43 PM

    Those are cute and you can make different fun patterns and colors for all summer long....thanks for the idea and for sharing this on Hey Mom, Look What I Did at Adventures In Mommy Land...hope to see you again soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownMarch 24, 2019 at 6:38 AM

    Very nice article, thanks for more information. lateralreviewworld

    ReplyDelete

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