BORN IN A BALL JAR: DIY lights

No matter what holiday you celebrate, there is a certain charm and joy in strand lights. However they can be a little simple and while adding light, usually look raw and unfinished. Here are two ways to dress up your lights and make them look like a cohesive part of your decor, and not an afterthought.

Materials:(Strand Style #1)

1 Take your pipe cleaners and twist them around the wire part of your lights. I packed them as tight as I could, trying to make the wire look like a real branch as much as possible.

2 Take your ping pong balls and poke a hole in them. For me I took a craft knife and justmade a little X in each one, just big enough for the light to fit though.

3 These balls were left over from another craft that I did at Halloween. However if you don’t have 50 ping pong balls laying around the house look on Amazon or online craft stores. They aren’t regulation, but practice balls, which makes them a bit cheaper. I got 200 of them for about $25.

4 Pop the balls onto the lights. I shoved them all the way on so that you don’t see any of the light. Sometimes you may need to go in and make the X on the ball bigger.

5 Hang your lights with pride. The great thing about the way this is done is that the pipe cleaners make the wire much more sturdy and able to intertwine with things. This makes them easy to hang and to interact with the rest of your decore.

Materials:(Strand Style #2)

1 Start with your tinsel and wrap it around the wire of your lights, much like we did the first one. The difference is that I made more than one pass. I had a pack of tinsel that was 50 feet long and I used all of it. The fuller the better and since I used cheap tinsel it was needed.

2 Get enough paper to fold the lanterns. I used newspaper, but you can use any thin paper. Origami paper looks especially lovely.

3 Fold your lanterns. You can use any type that you like, but I used a water balloon fold. Search for ‘Origami Water Balloon’ and you should come up with many how twos that will help you fold them. True origami uses no tape which is totally possible with this fold. However to make them stronger I just use a little piece of clear or paper tape to finish them.

4 Blow your lanterns up and pop them on your lights. The hole in the bottom of the lantern should be just big enough to hold the light. I keep a few of these lanterns that i folded a few years ago in the box with my tree decorations and pop them on the lights every year. They can add a real pop of color.