Canny Crafts: Upcycled Tin Cans

Soup can turned vaseThe other day I was cleaning out my recycling bins and gathering everything up to take in. I had a lot of tin food cans. I decided to keep a few different size cans out and craft with them.

The results of this round of crafting include a soup can turned vase and a few can creations that could be wedding worthy with a few accessories added.

To create these can crafts I just used black spray paint, glue and satin ribbon.

The first can I started with was the regular size food can and I used a hot glue gun to attach the red ribbon. That didn’t work so well. It made the ribbon look lumpy and did not allow for the ribbon to be moved and positioned as I attached it to the can. So I found some quick drying craft glue and used it instead. It dries fast but not as fast as hot glue and allows for movement and doesn’t leave the ribbon lumpy.

I think the red and black cans would look really nice with flowers or maybe some candles. I’ll have to dig through my candle stash and see if maybe I have a few white floating candles and see how they look in the flat tuna cans.

I added purple ribbon to the large soup can to match the pretty flowers I already had on hand- it matched perfectly.

I have a few more cans that I am deciding what to do with. I think the large tomato sauce can might make a nice basket.

Cans can be crafted into all kinds of creative things. Check out this list for a few ideas. What can you do?

Written by Wenona Napolitano

Wenona is married with three crazy kids that range in age from 4 to 18. She is a freelance writer, poet and the author of The Everything Green Wedding Book.

She enjoys reading, writing, crafting and gardening. She tries to do all of these as "greenly" as possible.

Her writing has appeared in several local and regional publications, Pack O Fun, Today's Creative Home Arts, and Indiana Living Green magazines as well as numerous online sites including PlentyMag.com, EthicalWeddings.com, MyEcoChicWedding.com, eHow, Associated Content, Suite101 and Life123.com.

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  1. I have been saving the large size plastic M>H> coffee cans, The ones with a handle, and the plastic Lays stackers potato chip They are both the same shade of blue. I know there must be some good and pretty use for them but an idea has not hit me yet. Help anyone?? Also does anyone know what will take the paint off the coffee cans and the glue off the potato chip cans cans.

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