Outdoor Blinking Christmas Ornament

This instructable will show you how to make an outdoor blinking christmas ornament for your trees that looks really great and is really easy to build.

Here's a video of it to give you a better idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfxkX5vFd2A

Tools you will need:

1.) a drill with uni bit
2.) needle nose pliers
3.) diagonal cutters
4.) About 50 feet of twine or string
5.) Something heavy like an old padlock to attach to the twine

Materials you will need:

1.) A 10 inch diameter acrylic white lamp globe. You can get them here www.1000bulbs.com for about $13.00 each. Get the ones with the extruded neck opening. You could concievably go bigger or smaller, but keep in mind that you will need more or less lights if you do. These are the exact ones I ordered:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/8058/3201-10020.html 
2.) A multi color chaser light set with at least 140 lights. You can usuially find these at wallgreens during Christmas time.
3.) Craft wire, bailing wire, or some other suitable stiff wire for making the hangers. I used stainless steel aircraft lock wire, because I had some lying around the garage.
4.) A 50 foot outdoor extension cord. I used a dark green colored one that is hard to see and at night almost looks like the ornaments are floating.
5.) A fairly large tree to hang them from.

This is a pretty easy build; all you really need to do is drill some holes in the globe. The first hole is drilled through the bottom of the globe to allow rain water to drain. The last three holes are drilled so that they are evenly spaced on the neck of the globe for hanger wires to attach. An important note about drilling acrylic: go slow and allow the drill to do the work; if you push too hard you can easily chip or shatter your globe. Now fill your globe with the string of lights. Next, cut  3 wires about 10 inches long each and attach them to each hole bending with the needle nose pliers. Then twist them all together and make a loop to hang it from, and youre done. Just make sure you make the loop on your hanger big enough for the female end of your extension cord to fit through.

It's really easy to hang these ornaments in a tree using twine and something heavy (I used an old padlock). First, tie one end of about 50 feet  twine to the padlock, and throw it over a high branch. Once you have both ends of the twine, tie one end of the twine to the female end of a 50 foot extension cord and pull it back over the branch and back down to you (so you are now holding both ends of the extension cord). Next, run the female end of the extension cord through the hanger and tie a knot in the extension cord, so that the ornament is now hanging from the extension cord. Next, plug the light string into the extension cord and pull the other end of the extension to raise the ornament to the desired hight. Then tie off the plug end of the extension to an anchor point, such as the tree itself or a stake in the ground, and plug it in.

These ornaments look really great at night hanging in the tree. However, you could easily hang them from a few hooks under the eaves of your house or on a porch. Let your imagination be your guide and have fun.

Here's a video of them on the tree at night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9sQs50EFRg