Recycle Soup Can Craft

Last evening we had a Mom's Night Out event with some dear moms from our Homeschool Support group. I like this kind of outings as we are all so busy working with our children that having time to visit with like-minded friends are such a treat.

My friend Margie hosted the event at her home and I was the one to conduct the craft.

I like crafts, especially recycling craft. It gives me a sense of accomplishment where I could make something so un-wanting (that people just automatically threw them away) into a piece of art (OK, the art part is a personal opinion). :)

So, without further adieu, here are my humble "arts".

Since we are technically still in winter, I thought I would make one in the winter blue color. I painted it white and then added a coat of sky blue. Tied some blue and white ribbons around it to make it pop.

I could turn the ribbons around the can to give it a more whimsical look as well. These organdy ribbons were from Jo-Ann's Fabrics. They were on sale. Two spools (8 yards each) for a dollar! What a deal!

Since Valentine is around the corner, I thought I would pound some holes in the can to let my hubby know I love him! (I think he does after all these years) :)

Note: This was my very first try on the hammer/nail technique and I learned from my mistakes.
1) The letter font will look better if it is in the Aerial font.
2) Make sure the spacing is consistent.
3) pound the nail with even presure and counts. ie. If you pounded two times for the first hole and liked the look, repeat the rest of the holes with the same pressure and counts.

This picture does not do justice to the light that came through the can. It is much prettier in person. One mom at the event hand drawn some swirls and pounded the nail through the drawing and boy it was beautiful! I kicked myself for not remembering to take some pictures!

This was a hostess gift. I love white color (I think I will paint a whole bunch of them in white later) Again, those wonderful ribbons played up the look - the black lines with dots are Mrs. Grossman's stickers and I painted the bottom black to "anchor" the can. I put some Valentine color M&M in the cellophane bag with a heart shape doily and tied it with the coordinating ribbon.


What about the lids? Well, you could do a lot with them too, once your creative juice starts going, you will find tons of cute little craft you could do with them. This one is perfectly easy for the young girls to make for their Valentine table setting. I cut a piece of printer paper and doodled it with a red Sharpie. Placed a red tea candle on it, and it's done! (I could have pained the lid white but I was running out time and forgot to fix it before heading over to teh event)

How simple is this one for St. Patrick Day? A piece of left over scrapbook paper and a green ribbon with a simple bow. Fill the can with some fun pencils and voila, no one could pinch you if you have this one sat on your desk! Great teacher gift as well.

OK, let's not leave our men out of the fun. I got this "granite" print contact paper at Wal-mart. This one by far was the fastest one to make due to the ease of use of the paper. I again made it look more polished by adding the "base lines" of stickers. It really looks very manly. Make about five or six of these cans and group them together, you will have a very tidy organized containers for him in his workshop.

How about this one holding a bag of Jelly Beans as a Spring time birthday present for a little boy? I cover this can with a piece of plain printer paper first (as a "primer" to make the ridges disappeared) and than wrapped it with a piece of thin wrapping paper. With some green ribbons I have on hand, here I banded the edges again to give it a more finished look.

July 4th celebration! This makes a good decorated coaster for paper cup, again, to keep the youngsters occupied. :)

I had so much fun wrapping this big can with this gorgeous wrapping paper. I got the wrapping papers from the freecycle.com and this one has such nice big "framed" Iris print and was just perfect for this huge Costco Kirland coffee can. I placed the plastic lid on the bottom so it won't scratch the surface when sliding it from one place to another. If you wrap this kind of big can with sturdy pretty wedding or baby wrapping papers it could act as a gift box and you can put all of the little gifts in it and tie the can up with a big piece of tulle or receiving blanket to complete the look.

This one was what started all the jazz! I was playing around with some left over beads, silver grey and white ribbons and I came up with this wedding theme flower arrangement. I put the roses in a paper cup filled with water inside the can. The paper cup fit perfectly in it. After the event, My friend Kim and I dropped by a bride-to-be friend's home and gave her the roses. I got an email from her later telling me how delighted she was to find it at her door step (she wasn't home when we dropped by).

What do you think about all these can crafts? Are you encouraged to try some now? I hope you do. :)