Turn a clay pot into outdoor lighting.

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The time has come for the final Dollar store post. *sniff* It's one of those occasions that's both sad and happy. Like watching a child go off to school for the first time, or eating a whole strawberry-rhubarb pie in one sitting.

Mostly though, this is an exciting moment. The final Dollar store post is perhaps the most dramatic transformation ever to be recorded in history. Ever. If you don't count some of the better drag queens.

So here we go .... deep breath ... the final Dollar Store post.

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Ta da! An outdoor lantern. I'm almost positive the other shoppers in Dollarama heard something in my head *pop* when I came up with this. I was actually looking at Dollarama's Chinese paper lanterns thinking how I liked them, but how they'd get wrecked if they were left outside in the rain for one night. Not a good thing for someone who might not be exactly, completely on top of things like bringing stuff in from the rain. Ever. Also a poor trait for someone who has a sunroof in their car. Just sayin'.

To prove that you could do this with ONLY things bought at a Dollar store I bought everything at Dollarama. You can improvise with stuff you already have at home, like chain or metal rods or whatever else you have in your basement or junk drawer. The Led lights I bought are meant for outdoors and are thusly waterproof, so pay attention to that if you go shopping around to do this.

So here we go ... it's simple enough to do but here are the instructions just in case you need 'em:

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Remove the chain from your really ugly cat plaque. It is now your choice as to whether you would like to display your really ugly cat plaque or throw it in the garbage.

Slip a thin metal rod through chain ends. I used a hex key I bought at Dollarama. Wind elastic band around ends to keep chain from slipping off. Hook LED light into middle.

Put light and rod inside pot. Pull chain through drain hole in pot. The rod acts as a brace to keep everything in place. this way you can also easily remove the light for when you need to change the batteries.

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this is what it will look like inside the upside down pot.

This is what it will look like outside at night. I put mine on the fence outside my dining room window so I can see them when I'm inside at night.

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And guess what?!! You can do this with just about anything! I used plastic pots, clay pots and woven baskets. With a little screwing around with your materials and technique whatever you want or find should work. For example:

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This one is done a little differently:

Remove the chain from your still ugly cat plaque.

Turn your basket upside down, slip chain through weave and tie ends of chain together with fishing line.

cut a long thread of fishing line and loop through hooks on back of light

run fishing line that's looped around light through weave in bottom of basket so it comes out other side.

grab ahold of your fishing line that you've run through what is now the top of your basket (shade).

pull the fishing line so it lifts the led light right up to the top of the basket. tie the fishing line into a tight knot, then cut the ends off.

see? the light is nice and snug against the top of the shade. i'm kindda shocked i just used the word "snug". that's an old person word.

Hang your fancy new basket lamp on the bracket.

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or even better! hang 2 fancy basket lamps on brackets!

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DSC_0438_2 — Ready for a party! that i'll never have. which is o.k. this way i don't have to clean up before or after the party. yet i still get to enjoy the lamps. And cheesies if I want. win, win really.

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Total cost for each of these outdoor lanterns? About $5. I ate more money in snacks while making them. Curse you Smartfood.

This concludes my very first Dollar store series. If my brain doesn't explode I'll have another series for you in a while. If my brain doesn't explode. Probably eating more Smartfood would help with preventing that.