Decor DIY: Painted Tube Cocktail Art

When I first spotted Kim & Mike's wedding on the Treasured Petal blog, my eyes stopped here:

Well, on the amazingly inventive decor part anyway. Don't get me wrong; they're a lovely couple but check out the prettiness! I had to see more!

Thank you projectwedding.com!

 Get out of the way you two!! source

 

 Much better! source

This stunning piece hung over the entrance to their cocktail hour. It was handcrafted and filled with flowers corks and rolled up magazines. Think about the endless ways you could use something like this - a chuppah, home decor, or modify it slightly and use as a great table centerpiece!
Thankfully, Victoria from City Cradle Design tracked down the creator and rounded up a tutorial! (P.S. Victoria's site also has a gallery full of templates and DIY projects to explore. She's pretty fab.) I included the instructions below but check out the City Cradle post and photos here. So the only question now is... what should I make this for first?





Materials:
You will need… Cans with different circumferences and heights, a can opener, nuts (short, slotted) and bolts, drill and drill bit that matches the size of the nuts (also something to puncture the can. I used a screw), flat-head screwdriver and a wrench that matches the size of the bolts.

You will also need… Spray paint (outside color), craft acrylic paint (inside color plus white) & varying things to fill the cans with.



How to:

• Cut the bottom of the cans out with a can opener.
• Arrange the cans in the arrangement you like.
• Starting with the corner can, drill a hole in the middle of the can (we estimated). Match the hole to the middle of an adjacent can and mark the second can, drill a hole where you marked the second can.
• Screw the 2 cans together with a nut and bolt (so that the cans are touching, but do not tighten the bolt because you may need to take the cans apart later.
• Add the cans together one by one. Depending on the height of the cans, you may need to join some of the cans together with two bolts to make the attachment secure. This step takes a lot of time because each can will be connected with multiple other cans.
• Tighten all the screws with the screwdriver and wrench.
• Spray paint the outside of the structure. Pay attention to the crevices, and don’t worry about getting paint on the inside of the cans (If I were to make this again, I think I would paint the cans before bolting them into together). Let the spray paint dry according to instruction on can.
• Paint the inside of the cans white (so that the inside color will be more vibrant).
• Paint the inside of the cans the desired colors to match your event.
• Fill the cans with event related items- we used flowers corks and even rolled up magazines.