Windchimes or suncatchers, I think they are great! So effective and yet so very simple to make in your own home, using some of our everyday items. You will find this relatively easy to do by simply using some of your old CD’s.

This sounds simple enough, so how can I start? And with what? Some CD’s, scissors, adhesive, bells and whatever you would like to use to hang this on. Twine, a very thin ribbon, string, cord, there are so many colour choices available now in local craft stores.

Let’s get cracking then! Personally, I think it wood be a good start to try with some CD’s with some colour in them. Now, I recommend you try this with four for your first attempt. Pick up two CD’s and put them together so that you cannot see the labelling. They then need to be stuck together like this with the glue. Repeat this with your other two discs.

Bear in mind, this idea can be adjusted to suit where you want to actually hang this. First of all, you will need to cut about 36 inches of fine ribbon. You then need half of this on each side of the first two CD’s, so go straight through the middle of these and do a tight knot on the edge which will be on the outside.

Your second CD now needs to be added to this so that it will end up on top of the first one. To do this, one string has to go through the middle of the CD and be joined with the other string and knotted at the outside edge again and then knot again.

We now need our bells. If you can, try and obtain some coloured ones, to go with your gaudy CD’s. If this is not possible, try painting your own, using an acrylic paint or nail varnish, just to keep it all colourful. The first bell needs to be attached to the two ribbons together, so that it is just on top of the two CD’s, with the next one coming about two inches above, before you fix it.

It will be entirely up to you how many bells you use like this, but if you want more you may need a longer string, as there needs to be enough remaining at the top to be able to hang your finished item. Also, you could hang your bells on the two strings separately, at different levels, and you may want to only tie the bells on.

It is still possible to hang smaller bells, or whatever you like, from the base of the bottom CD. So, if you were to hang two or three strings, they would all jangle, and you could not only use bells, it would look good with some coloured beads or use some of both. You can buy plastic crystal beads in handicraft stores now which would catch the light well.

How about adding fake crystals to silver CD’s. There are plenty of things you could use as substitutes, but there is also no reason why you can’t paint your CD’s.

Try hanging this in the garden, it might keep the birds off your seeds!