Not Only is it Make It Monday….

but it’s also Monday Night Football!!

This week is my Fall/Halloween Week, where all my projects have to do with one or the other or both for the most part. So if you need ideas, stay tuned. Alright, so my original plan for this project didn’t come out; however, I’m fairly satisfied with the way this project did come out. I worked on this for a couple of weeks, wanting make sure everything is completely dried. So, here is my version of some Fall/Halloween lights.

Let’s get started…

Fall/Halloween Lights

Things You’ll Need:

***Make sure to read everything before purchasing items, this way you can decide which way you want to make these***

• Orange Spray Paint
• Brown Spray Paint
• Green Spray Paint
• Strand of lights
• Balls
• Command Strip hooks
• Box or somewhere for spray painting
• Face mask (optional)
• Painter tape
• String
• Patients

About the products I used:

Products I already had:

I purchased everything from Target, except for the box I used. Since my dad runs and owns a fitness manufacturer company, I was able to get my box from him; of which, we actually had upstairs using to block the dog from going up. Though we have plenty of face masks around the house, I opted no to use one. I also just so happened to find some fishing string but any type of string I’m sure would work.

Products Purchased:

The spray paint used in this project is Valspar brand — their “devine color” line. The Orange used is called “Devine Orangelo” and is a “Glossy Color.” The Green used is called “Devine Mint” and is also a “Glossy Color.” The Brown used is called “Devine Cinnamon” and is a “Matte Color.”

The balls used in this project can be found in the sports section at Target. They are the “Callaway – perforated practice balls” and come in a 24 count. The command hooks I used are the wire hooks that come in a pack of six and holds up to 225g. I used five of them, but it really depends on how long the box of how many you will be using.

When I brought the stand of lights, I picked up two strands not realizing one strand was white and the other green. However, you will find out by the end, it was just as well I brought two strands. ? The lights are part of Target’s “Room Essentials” brand of “mini string lights” with 100 lights. No I did not fill all of them up for this project but will probably go back and finish them off. The painters tape I purchased, was 3M’s brand of “Scotch Blue Painters Tape” for delicate surfaces. The roll was .94 inches by 45 yards.

Version #1

Step #1:

Depending on how many balls you get will depend on how long your strand of lights is. Using the string, thread each ball through allowing them to hang. Originally I used packing tape to hang the string hung balls in the box but they kept falling off, probably because of the weight. So, I purchased the command strips and used them instead. Then, using my orange spray paint, I covered all the balls.

Once all the balls were dry, I carefully picked each row up and sprayed what was left to be sprayed. Afterwards, I allowed them to dry for a few hours (just to be sure) and added another coat. Once finished with that coat, I then allowed them to dry for the next week since the can says it takes up to a week to be fully ‘cured.’

Step #2:

First and foremost, plug your strand of lights in and make sure all of them work. Secondly, if you can afford it, don’t get the cheapest ones available. If you do, you risk having all the lights go out if only one doesn’t work. For this version, I used my white strand of lights.

Now that you have your strand of lights working, carefully wrap each bulb and the strand with painters tape. This leaves only the bottom part of where the bulb plugs in showing. I then spray painted this part green and did exactly what I did with the balls.

Step #3:

A week later (told you I’ve worked several weeks on this), I unwrapped the strand and carefully wrapped the portion I painted green. Once wrapped and unwrapped I spray painted the strand brown. And again, allow to dry. After it was dry, I carefully unwrapped the green portion and the light bulbs as I was ready to put the orange balls on so I thought.

As I was unwrapping everything, one of my uncles came in asking what I was doing. So I showed them and popped on of the balls onto a bulb. Now, I did test to make sure the balls fit onto the light and at the time the part I sprayed green stuck out. Unfortunately, the whole thing went right in where the green portion did not show. Though they didn’t show, I could have not pushed them all the way in and kept to what I originally pictured; but I decided that would be one less step to do when I do more of these.

Step #4:

As part of my original plan, I was going to go a step further use my Cricut Explore to cut out felt leaves as a added touch to my strand of lights. To attach the leaves I was going to use wire I found in the Jewelry section of Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately, since my original strand of lights didn’t go quite as planned, I cut this part out but if you strand of lights still work at this point, please show me your work. I would love to see how everything turned out.

Version #2:

This version is the simplest. Since I had the unfortunate ending of my original white strand of lights not working by the time I was finished, somewhere one of the bulbs were loose, I used my green strand of lights (the second box I happened to pick up).

Step #1:

First, I had to remove all the orange balls from my white strand; which of course, in the midst of doing so, completely killed the white strand. I thought, I would try to figure out which bulb was not working and be able to use that strand for something, but that was a no go. ?

Step #2:

After getting all the orange balls off my white strand, I put them on my green strand of lights. Then, I just left it at that because frankly, I was tired of working on this project and wanted to start on another great project. Told you this version was the simplest. Don’t forget to share your lights! Hope you enjoyed!

Have any questions about the project? Please feel free to comment below and I’ll respond back as soon as possible! Thanks for visiting! Hope to see you again!

Crafty JBird