Tin Can Heart Lanterns

So many of you are enjoying crafts that involve recycling these days and we wanted to share with you a craft that is not only great fun to make but also cost effective and something that would give older children the opportunity to learn new skill!

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Today we are sharing a different craft with you, a new one completely for us!

Tin Can Heart Lanterns.

You will need:

Several washed out Tin Cans
A Drill
Acrylic Paints
Masking Tape
Battery Operated Tea Light Candles
Deburring Tool


Once you have a set of cans washed out - you are ready to start!


Cover the front of your cans in masking tape. We found that without this tape the drill kept slipping. The masking tape created the sturdy base we needed to create effective holes in the tin.

Next draw a heart template. I used some cookie cutters I have just ordered, to draw around. I also added where I wanted the holes to be. This meant I could make sure the holes were roughly an equal distance apart, rather than doing them free hand with the drill.


Stick your heart template on top of your masking tape.


You can now start drilling your holes through.
Remove the masking tape and you should be left with a lovely heart shape on the front of your tin.

Check your tin isn't left with any sharp edges once you have created your holes. We did use a Deburring Tool to help create even smoother edges, if you have one of these tools handy then heres the craft to use it with!

Now for the fun part! Start painting and decorating your tins. We used Acrylic Paints and found they worked great! I always use Reeves Acrylic Paint and highly recommend it! Such small amounts go a long way and the colours are so vibrant and great when mixed too!


Once the tins were all dry I had some twine string that I tied around the top and attached a cute tag reading 'You light up my life!' You can download this tag FREE from our blog.

These heart tins make cute decorations for around the home - all year round but in particular for Valentines Day.

Older children can help drill the holes and the younger children can help to decorate them with paints, glitter, sequins, gems! A craft for all the family to get involved in!

Add your tags and why not send them to friends and family! They will love that they have been thought of! You can also use the tags on these cute Thumb Print Candle Holders Keepsakes.

We did this craft  to join in with Red Ted Arts '31 Days of Love' series! Red Ted Art is one of our favourite blogs so we were delighted to be asked to join in!

We enjoyed taking part last year too and created a Foot Print Salt Dough Heart Keepsake! Be sure to check that out! You could also use the design on card fronts! So many of you LOVED the craft last year and it's already being enjoyed lots this year too!! As an alternative we created a Hand Print Salt Dough Heart Keepsake too!