Sometimes I feel like I’m really good at the big things – the main pieces of an outfit, the main furniture in a room – but I struggle with little things, like jewelry and accessorizing a room. So when redoing our patio I tried to be really deliberate and not just think about the big things, but also the atmosphere and accessories. These hanging tea lights are one of the things I felt gave the biggest payoff in the detail category, for very little effort.
I knew I wanted something hanging, and some lighting, so it would be pretty AND functional for our patio. I saw a few hanging tea light/mason jar combos for weddings, and I wanted to adapt that for the patio. Since actual candles didn’t seem practical for this use, I looked up solar powered tea lights (affiliate link). And thanks to the internet, they were easy to find and in my mail later that week.
From there, this is a simple and cheap project. You’ll need:
- Solar powered tea lights (affiliate link)
- Twine
- Craft wire (affiliate link)
- Jars – I used a mix of washed food jars and decorative thrifted ones that were 2 for $1.00. By the way, while making this, I stumbled across a really good tip for removing food labels – use a mix of cooking oil and baking soda made into a paste to scrub them right off without chemicals. Just get as much of the label off as you can with hot water, then use the paste. It works great!
- Cup hooks
- Sand
Form the wire into a loop that’s a few inches bigger than the top of the jar, and then place over the jar and twist the ends, so that there is now a small loop on each end.
String the twine through the two smaller loops and tie securely in a loop. Fill the bottom of each jar with a little bit of sand so that the candle has a level base to sit on. Then add the candles.
Screw cup hooks where you want the lamps to hang, then hang a lamp from each one (I did 12).
The lights I used soak up sun during the day…
Then come on automatically when it gets dark!
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Samina says
That’s a lovely idea! I’m totally stealing that, if you don’t mind!
Kathy E. says
I’m crazy about this idea! I want to do this below our deck where we have a walk-out patio and lots of flowers. I imagine they need to be taken down if rain is expected so they don’t fill with water. Great idea, Melly!