Tin Can Flowers

We made these tin can flowers a while back.  I could not post them because the girls gave them to grandma for Mother's day.  And my mom reads the blog so the only way to have a suprise for her is to not post.

However these are not just a mothers day present.  We made some extra to put in our yard too and I just LOVE them.  They are so pretty and make a great yard decoration!  Then when you add some bird seed to them they change to one of the prettiest bird feeders I have ever seen.

 And as usual with some of our projects they end up being a learning experience.  We originally made four of these two for grandma and two for us.  But then we learned that we used the wrong paint.  Yep I originally used regular old craft pain, and it all started chipping off the flowers after a week.  So lesson learned we went and got some outdoor craft paint and made a couple more for grandma and they turned out great!

I am also happy to report that my mom's squirrel was not able to get up the flower stem to get the bird seed.  He tried but the stem is just too thin for him to climb so until he learns to pull it out or tip it over these appear to be squirrel proof.

If you decide to make these with your child just note that I did all the cutting of the cans and supervised the kids while they painted them.  They did not get any cuts the entire time we did this, however that is not too say your kids wont get cut, so keep an eye on them and be careful.

Supplies
14oz Tin Can
Tin Cutters
Washable Marker
Hammer
Nail
Green Plant Stake
Out Door Craft Paint
Heavy Duty Glue
Clear Sealer/Protectant

Directions

 Use your hammer and nail to put a LARGE hole in the bottom of your can.  NOTE: You need the hole to be big enough to fit your plant stake, so you may need to do more than one hole and connect them.

Make sure you don’t make the hole too big, this is what it should look like when done.

Use your washable marker to mark of where you are going to cut.

Use your Tin cutters to cut the can where you marked.

Bend your petals down

Using your tin cutters snip the ends off of each corner of petal

 Now paint your flowers.

 You can do any pattern you like, make sure to paint the inside and outside since you will see both.

 Once the paint is dry. Insert your Planting rod into the bottom of your can.  Then apply your heavy glue on the inside of your flower

 And then apply the glue on the outside of your flower.

Once the glue is dry bring your flowers outside and spray your flowers with clear protectant to help protect from the elements.

 

 Fill your flowers with bird seed and watch the birds come to enjoy your pretty flowers.