DIY Rain Chain!

Contrary to this summer's weather, it is usually quite rainy here in Washington...

We put a lot of importance on rain management...

AKA: gutters.

They're a necessary ugly.

So this summer, as I spruced up the back porch,

I decided to replace one of our more dispensable gutters with a rain chain.

I've seen many rain chains online and in stores for upwards of $100...

REALLY?

$100 to manage dripping rain? 

Seemed a bit steep to me!

So, as usual, I decided to make my own.

Here's what my gutter looked like before...

Isn't it lovely?  No?  

I agree.  Ugly...Dirty...Blech!

Here's what it looks like now...  

If you'd like to make your own, it's very, very easy.  

Here are the cliff notes...

What you'll need:

Vintage little tin jello molds (hole drilled into the bottom of each)

Strong, yet pliable wire (I had some electric fence wire, I have no idea why we possess electric fence wire...no clue whatsoever)

Chain  (I bought 5 1-foot lengths of chain - you may need more if your chain needs to be longer -from Home depot...the home depot guy was very kind to cut the lengths for me.  There is no way on earth I could have done that at home.)

Binder rings (yes, binder rings)

To attach the tart tins to the chain, I made connectors out of wire like this:

I put one binder ring through one loop and stuck the other side through the tart tin and attached another binder ring...attaching chain to the binder rings as well and closing them.  Voila.  Repeat the same thing using all of your chain and tins.  All of the tins should face the same way.  Here's a detail of how I did it...

Now to attach it to the gutter...

I took off the ugly gutter and used one of these, set into the gutter opening, to attach the chain so that it comes out of the top of the now open gutter.  Your gutter may be different than mine and you may need to buy a different piece to make it work...this cost about a buck at Home depot.  There are very elaborate and fancy "rain chain adaptors" that you could buy for MUCH more...but why would you do that?

I added some colorful glass crystals because I thought it needed a certain je ne sais quoi...and the crystals were exactly what it needed!

I made this chain yesterday and after weeks and weeks of sunshine (no complaints here!), it's raining today.  I'm happy to report:  The rain chain is doing it's job!  

Vintage Crafty Goodness!

Feelin' Crafty today!  

I have lots of these fabulous vintage brass stencils but I wasn't sure what to do with them.  In my recent clean-out of my studio, I just couldn't get rid of them.  They're metal, they're letters, two things I'm attracted to when I peruse thrift and antiques shops.  Surely there's SOMETHING unique I can do with these!

Then it hit me.

I love candles...and the letters slip together end to end.  I could make a decorative text sleeve for a candle!

At first, I was inspired by my daughter's upcoming wedding...and the first design I came up with uses  their initials and the date of their wedding.  I love it!

The problem with these stencils is that there is only one of each letter...which makes doing anything other than stenciling with them, a little challenging if you have only one or two sets!  I was able to come up with letters of varying sizes to spell Family, Love and Fun...and made one more candle sleeve for a larger candle!

I love the varying sizes and the mismatched look!  I've made one other project with these stencils about a year ago...this sign hangs above our bed...I made it for my husband when he came home from his deployment.

I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more of the stencils!  I saw a lamp shade made from these stencils, connected by jump rings, and fell in love!  I must make one for myself...someday...when I hit the motherlode of brass stencils!  My favorite thing about these projects is that they give an old utilitarian supply that has served it's purpose, a new and beautiful life!

Happy Creating!