Tuna Can Tea Light Hangers

11 Materials
$10
15 Minutes
Easy
If you're looking for a simple way to add a little light to your space, here is the perfect project for you! This would also make a great project to do with your students, kids, grandkids, or girlfriends -- though if you do this project with littles, I would recommend using a different glue than hot glue unless you take over for the cutting and the gluing parts. :) We want to help you DIY, so some of the materials in this post are linked to sellers. Just so you know, Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.
SUPPLIES: -clean tuna cans with labels removed -scrapbooking paper (or ribbon) -cutting mat -straight edge (I used a ruler.) -hot glue gun/sticks -box cutter (or X-Acto knife) -twine Not pictured: -scissors -tea lights candles (or battery powered...see photo further down in the tutorial) -wire hanger *Note: this project only cost me $5 as I only had to purchase the battery powered tea lights -- I had everything else on hand.
STEP 1: Cut scrapbooking paper The first step I took was to cut strips of scrapbooking paper. I wrapped a full piece of scrapbooking paper around one of my tuna cans, with the edge of the paper just under the lip of the can, to get an idea of how wide the finished paper strip needed to be -- it ended up being roughly 1-1/4".
STEP 2: Hot glue paper strips to cans Next, I used hot glue to adhere the scrapbooking paper strips to my cans. I started with a small line of glue to get the end adhered to the can, then every inch or so I added more glue until the entire strip was glued to the can.
STEP 3: Make hanger for cans Once all of my cans were covered, I took my twine and...
...made a bow from the end of the twine...
...then I cut the bow loose. I'd recommend making small bows -- maybe an inch and a half to 2" or so. These are basically just to add an extra little touch to the cans.
Next, I cut different lengths of twine. I didn't measure anything -- just simply started with one length, laid it out and then cut the other lengths, so that all of the cans would ultimately hang at different heights.
STEP 4: Hot glue bows and twine strings to can As you can see, for this step I adhered the bows and twine strings to the cans. I first glued the end of the twine string to the can (I glued it at the seam of the paper), then I glued the bow on top of the end of the twine string.
STEP 5: Tie finished cans to hanger and add tea lights Don't forget your tea lights! You can use real tea light candles but I wouldn't recommend it as you never know who is going to come along and bump the wax out.
To hang these finished cans, I simply tied the other end of the twine to the bottom of a wire hanger. Because these hanging in our son's room, I wasn't so worried with the rustic look of a plain wire hanger; however, if you're hanging you're cans somewhere prominent, you can always add some garland or burlap ribbon to dress up the hanger.
I love how simple and easy this project was...and how cute it turned out! The beauty of this project is that you can make them look however you wish because of the different scrapbooking paper and ribbon that is out there!
Resources for this project:
Tuna cans
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 15 questions
  • Irene Irene on Feb 09, 2017
    How long is the life of a tea light if it is left on continuously? Very pretty, BTW.
  • Emma Saavedra Emma Saavedra on Oct 17, 2017

    Can you give any ideas on the decoration of a hanger.

  • Pineapple Pineapple on Sep 28, 2018

    Did you clean out the tuna cans with detergent? Do they still smell like tuna? I can just see my cat now wondering where the tuna is! Lol

Comments
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  • Vco3266427 Vco3266427 on Oct 31, 2022

    Love it! Thinking spray painting various textures and colors would be great too!

  • Cathy Cathy on Jan 27, 2024

    I lined the INSIDE of my cans with the scrap paper, alternating the outside patterns with the inside to tie it all together. It looks so pretty my daughter put them over her bed she liked them so much... and it's perfectly safe!!!

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