Patriot Tin Can Windsocks

The Fourth of July is just around the corner so I needed to spruce up the house with some patriotic decorations.  I found this great idea for Tin Can Windsocks at http://the-wilson-world.blogspot.com.  What a great idea!  I modified ours a bit.  We painted paint cans, of course, cut out stars in vinyl on the Silhouette and used ribbon for the stripes.  I liked them so much, we made quite a few of them.  

Click Read More for the How To...

Materials (per windsock)

1 can - We used a quart sized paint can, a larger spaghetti sauce can would work great!

Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Spray Paint, Regal Blue 51901

2 ft. of rope, we happened to have some red with white and blue specs

White Vinyl Stars cut out on Silhouette

4 lengths of white ribbon (10-12 inches)

4 lengths of red ribbon (10-12 inches)

Hot Glue and Gun

Fray Check, found in fabric stores (stops fraying)

Can Opener that makes those little triangles like in the top of a juice can

How We Did It

1.  I flipped the can over so that the bottom of the can would be the top. 

2.  I took a can opener that makes those little triangles like you would for the top of a juice can and made holes in the can wall right at the top of the can.  See picture below. 

3.  We spray painted the cans with Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Regal Blue 51901 spray paint.  I liked the darker blue color.  We make sure to flip the cans and make sure that the rim was painted very well to ward off rust for as long as possible. 



4.  I took the length of rope, slipped the ends inside the can through the holes and knotted the ends together.

5.  I took the loop of rope and knotted it again at the top of the can .  This was just a personal preference, I liked the way it looked.

6.  I cut out white stars on my Slhouette and placed them around the can.  I used 12 per can in three rows and the row in the center the stars were in the middle of the top and bottom row, just as you would see on our flag. 

7.  I used fray check on the ends of all 8 lengths of ribbon.  This is to prevent fraying and keeping the windsocks looking nice and crisp. 

8.  I used hot glue to glue the ribbon on the inside of the rim of the can.  I used 1 1/2 inch ribbon and 8 of them spaced very well around the rim of the can. 

9.  Hang and enjoy!