Can You? I can, I CAN!

This isn’t a new idea-this is just my take on it.
I wanted a little panache on the back porch for the summer season.
This super easy to make lantern casts a warm glow; without being too frilly. I mean, I am married to a man. A man with an opinion. And his opinion is usually ‘sans frills’.

The best part, I was able to make these lanterns for next to nothing.
And I mean nothing. The cans were given to me by Grandma during the mass divesture of her life’s collections, the lights were $1 clearance item from ‘Tar-zhay’ years ago and my elbow grease costs me nothing other than yet another round of the Arnica gel.

What you’ll need:
Power Drill with different sizes of drill bits (I used 1/8”, 7/32”, & 1/2”)
Light Socket with Cord (I found mine at Target, but I also found these online at Ikea for $3.99)
Sharpee
Large Tin Can
Clamp (not pictured)
Metal snips (also not pictured-I am bad, I know.)

Start off by making a pattern using a sharpee and a little whimsy.
I placed my sharpee dots about 1” apart to accomodate the 7/32” drill bit I used. (The hole from this bit is about the size of a hole punch.)
Cover your work area with paper-the little metal bits are a bugger to clean up, trust me.
Securely fasten your can to a solid surface using your clamp.
Now, drill out all the whimsical sharpee dots.

Use a large drill bit to make a large hole at the top of your can for your light socket to come through. I used a 1/2” drill bit for this, drilling two holes side by side.

Make sure that the cord fits through the hole that you drilled in the top of the can.
If it doesn’t, don’t panic. Just drill another hole, or cut a little here and there with metal snips until the cord does fit.

Here are my Holy cans. You can see where my drill slipped and left a trail and where I didn’t quite ‘hit the mark’. But, I’m ok with it.

These peaceful lanterns are sweet, but not frilly, mind you.
Not frilly in the least.
Ok, maybe a little, but don’t tell the hubby.