Fairy lights are all very well and good but sometimes they just aren't 'flamingo-ey' enough, you know? A while ago I did a little tutorial on how to snazz up some honeycomb decorations for straws, naturally I bought many many flamingoes for this tutorial and they have subsequently just been resting at the bottom of my craft box with nothing to do. The other day I was having a bit of a clear out and I thought "hey, if they can fit around a straw they can fit around a fairy light!". I'm trying to think of some cute tropical-themed garden parties I can organise just to display these guys! I'm also tempted to make some with those little fruit picks you can get for cocktails- how cute would they be around a bar!?
You will need:
A glue gun
Some scissors
Novelty honeycomb straws/ drinks picks- you can usually buy them at pound stores or party shops but if you have no luck, there are plenty available on line.
1. Trim your honeycombs of any excess card. Usually the decorations will have a little extra card with a slot allowing you to connect the two sides but since you're going to be gluing your honeycomb you can just cut this off.
2. With your glue gun, put a generous amount of glue on one of your honeycomb sides.
3. Stretch out your honeycomb and hold the sides shut for around 15 seconds. I found a glue gun to be the most effective way of sticking as you don't really have enough manoeuvring room to really press the sides together and so it helps to just rely on the hot glue setting.
4. Keep going until you have enough flamingoes for your fairy lights.
5. Now carefully stretch the honeycomb open to reveal the space in the middle (where your straw would have gone).
6. Stretch over your fairy light and you're done!
Just a quick health and safety note! I've had these lights up for a couple of days now and keep them on for a few hours every night. I have periodically been testing whether the paper heats up and so far I haven't noticed anything worrying. I think this may be due to the quality of the fairy lights though since I've never noticed these bulbs heating up. Just to be on the safe side, do not leave lights on for extended periods of time when you are out of the room and make sure to check whether they are heating up the paper.
