Are you taking your Cinco de Mayo outdoors this year? We posted last week a DIY project we shared at West Elm's customer appreciation night at their Beverly Blvd. location. These lanterns take a bit of prep work so if you are able to start them tonight you will have them in perfect time for Cinco De Mayo.
DIY LANTERNS
All you need for these lanterns are some old cans, some dried rice, nails, and a hammer. Here is some cans that will be turned into lanterns after eating all the tomatoes.
The first step after cleaning up your cans is to make the middle solid again so the can doesn't buckle when adding the holes. I saw tutorials on making similar upcycled lanterns on Pinterest that said to use sand. Being that I don't have a yard and am a city dweller, the thought of all the soggy sand leftover from this project seemed problematic. I thought trying my hand at this project with rice might make better sense.
The rice expands in the freezer so leave plenty of room for expansion left in the can. I found it works nice to freeze the rice all day and add more water to fill out the rest of the top portion of the can and refreeze.
If your rice expands too much like the picture shown on the right just scrape the top portion of the rice off and top it off with as much water as possible before refreezing.
Once frozen you can make any design you'd like with your hammer and nail(s). You will really just need one nail.
Once you poke your design in the can you will want to flip the cans upside down in a bucket so that it collects the rice and water as it thaws.
Pop in a candle, or some of those flame-less battery operated kind if you are indoors and you are in business!
DIY FABRIC STRING GARLAND (No Sew)
This garland is a simple and easy way to put old fabric and yarn scraps to good use.
Since the strips are looped over in what ends up being a cow hitch/ Lark's head knot--otherwise known as "really easy"!
As pictured you fold the looped end over the string and you pull the tails through the loop fastening it over and securing the fringe. Do this as many times as you see fit for your garland. The best part is with this type of knot you can move the fringe wherever you'd like so there is no way to mess this project up :) It could even be hung up in your studio as a way to organize the smaller leftover strips too! I love when decor holds an extra function.
Enjoy! XOXO, KC
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