Condo Blues: Aluminum Can Barn Star Wreath

Monday, June 30, 2014

Aluminum Can Barn Star Wreath

For some reason, I have barn stars on the brain. I notice them everywhere!

Except on wreaths.

Until now.

 I painted my stars red, white, and blue but you can paint your stars whatever color you like!


Husband and I don’t drink a lot of soda, usually as a treat or for some special occasion. Luckily, I came  into a bunch of empty pop cans that I didn’t have to drink by throwing my mom a surprise birthday party. You don’t have to acquire your aluminum cans that way. Call a buddy, ask a friend, or heck, treat yourself to a beverage all in the name of making a Fourth of July wreath.

Who knew patriotism could be so tasty?

How to Make Soda Pop Can Stars


  I left one of my stars silver instead of painting it white because I like how the silver looks against my twig wreath.

You will need:

9 clean and empty soda pop cans or aluminum flashing - aluminum flashing looks like this

Tin snips like these

Work gloves similar to this kind

Paper

Pencil

Ruler

Scissors

Gorilla Tape


Red spray paint for metal

Blue spray paint for metal 

Grape vine wreath- you can one similar to mine here


Red ribbon

White ribbon

Blue ribbon

Optional: Cardstock circles (I cut mine from a pasta box)

Disclosure: I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convenience  

Make it:

1. Make a paper template. Use the ruler and pencil to draw a kite shape that is two inches long at the top and four inches wide at the bottom. Cut the template out with your scissors. You will use this pattern to cut out your star points.





2. Wearing the work gloves, use the tin snips to cut the top, bottom, and side of the pop cans using the diagram below.

 Be careful handling the cut pop can. The edges may be sharp.
Photo courtesy of my food blog Lazy Budget Chef

3. Trace the star point pattern onto the open soda can and cut it out with the tin snips. I got two star points from one 12 ounce can. You will need five star points for each star.

4. Use the ruler and pencil to make a score line down the center of each star point.

5. Fold each star point in half following the score line on each star point.


aluminumcanstarpoints
Tip: I think the stars are easier to spray paint if you make them by folding the star points silver side out

6. Use the Gorilla Tape to attach the two inch top of the star points to each other to make a star shape.

howtomakebarnstar
Duct tape will probably work for this project too. I used Gorilla Tape because it is the first thing I grabbed off the tape shelf in the garage.

7. Spray paint one pop can star blue.

8. Spray paint one pop can star red

9. Weave a length of ribbon around the grapevine wreath. Tie the ends of the ribbon into a bow.

redwhiteblueribbonwreath
I looped a length of red, white, and blue  ribbons around my hand, tied them in the center with the tails of the woven ribbon and fluffed the ribbon to make the bow.

9. Glue or tape the soda can star to the grapevine wreath. I taped mine soda can stars to the wreath so I can change the wreath décor with the seasons.

Optional: If your stars will not lay flat or stay open, tape a circle of cardstock to the center back of the star.

sodapopcanstar
Singing Counting Stars while you are working on this project is optional but encouraged.
It is one of Husband’s favorite songs. He sings it all the time!

10. Hang it up and admire!

I plan to keep my DIY barn star wreath up all summer but since we are so close to the Fourth of July, I hung paper fan medallions to tie everything together and create patriotic front porch décor.

If you'd rather buy than DIY, check out the following options - and more! - below!


Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or to Condo Blues by Email.

No comments :

Post a Comment

I love comments and read them all! If you’re shy and don’t want your opinions made public, you can always email me at condoblues [at] gmail [dot] com.