Thanksgiving Crafts: Upcycle a Coffee Can into a Turkey!

Thanksgiving crafts from upcycled materials

Thanksgiving Crafts: Upcycle a Coffee Can into a Turkey!

Thanksgiving crafts are a great way to create your own DIY eco-friendly tablescape— like this coffee can that I upcycled into an adorable turkey!

Becky’s post yesterday, Make Gratitude Place Cards, inspired me to create even more Thanksgiving crafts that I can display on my Thanksgiving table. I wanted to create something that would be decorative, but functional. I upcycled an average coffee can into an adorable turkey that can hold items as well– like silverware, flowers, or cloth napkins.

What You Will Need:

1. An empty coffee can. I used a small one, but any size will do.

2. Recycled paper. I used book pages.

3. Crayons

4. Brown spray paint. If you can, use a low VOC spray paint— it’s more eco-friendly!

5. Hot glue/hot glue gun

How To Do It:

1. Clean your coffee can.

2. Spray paint the coffee can brown. Remember, multiple light coats will give you the best results with spray paint. One heavy coat can give you drips.

Thanksgiving Crafts: Upcycle a Coffee Can into a Turkey!

3. Draw several turkey feathers on your recycled paper. Then, cut them out.

4. Color the feathers with your crayons. I used fall colors like red, yellow, and orange.

5. With your hot glue gun, hot glue the feathers to the back part of the coffee can.

6. Now it is time to create a face for your turkey! I used a combination of recycled paper and crayons to create his cute little face. I simply cut out each shape: circles for the eyes, a triangle for his nose/beak, and a squiggly part for the red part that hangs belong the turkey’s beak (I’ve heard it’s called a wattle or snood). Once I cut them out, I colored them and then attached them to the coffee can with hot glue.

Thanksgiving Crafts: Upcycle a Coffee Can into a Turkey!

Isn’t it so cute? I plan on using mine to hold silverware because we usually do a buffet style instead of a formal tablescape.

Thanksgiving Crafts: Upcycle a Coffee Can into a Turkey!What would you put inside the turkey? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below!

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