DIY crafts with tin cans! YES, you can-can!
DIY crafts using everyday tin cans you have in your household. GREAT opportunity to do some DIY crafts with the kids!
I prefer the minimalist look (thank goodness, because anything else could not be supported on my budget). So simple succulent plants even get my “minimalist treatment”. I didn’t think you could get “any more minimalist” with a succulent plant…..but I just took it “down” to a whole new level.
One of my creations came to mind when I was making spaghetti one night. My spaghetti sauce recipe calls for ingredients that come in 3 different size cans…….one for tomato paste, one for tomato sauce and one for diced tomatoes. I ended up with 3 different size of cans and my mind “was racing” as I was stirring that spaghetti sauce. SO, I decided to take those 3 cans and spray paint them my favorite bronze color. After I let them dry overnight I added some jute cord (with a hot glue gun) positioned in different places on each can. It was then time to put something in these creations. So on my next Lowe’s adventure I purchased 3 succulent plants (these things are “dirt cheap”) and planted them in my newly decorated planters. They are perfect fits for my newly decorated tin cans.
Get your Kids Involved in DIY crafts with tin cans!!!
I HIGHLY encourage everyone to use a DIY opportunity to bond with your children. Lauren and I have fun experimenting with projects, as I mentioned in our Welcome Blog, and lately my 3 year old granddaughter, Aubrey, has gotten bit by the “DIY bug”.
With that said, Aubrey and I worked on a DIY tin can craft this weekend that is a great one to do with kids! We decided to make a vase for her mother for Valentine’s Day!
Prep Work
We used a can that had a “peel back top” (ie. didn’t require a can opener). I noticed there was a sharp edge on the inside top of the can, so I took a manual can opener and ran it around the top edge. Much to my surprise that “sharp edge” peeled right off. You can see the “sharp sliver” that came off in the photo below. This resulted in a very smooth inside edge with NO sharp edges AT ALL!
Pick your Color scheme
I decided to break out the most popular craft product at my house……MOD PODGE! We started by taking 3 different colors of tissue paper and gluing them to the surface of the can with Mod Podge. If you are not familiar with Mod Podge you can buy it at your local craft store or Wal Mart. You basically brush Mod Podge all over the outside of the can and then randomly stick the small cut tissue paper all over. THEN you apply another coat of Mod Podge on top of the tissue paper. You can do this over and over again as many times as you like to get the look you want. Mod Podge dries relatively quickly so the process does not take days and days.
Our experiment resulted in a minor failure BUT we were able to recover. It wasn’t looking so good with the 3 colors we chose. #1 the dark red against the 2 lighter shades of pink and white didn’t create a good blend and #2 the tissue paper was cut too perfect….I tend to get better results from tissue paper that is torn and all different sizes. (I have a future project to show you with this torn tissue paper look). SO we decided to change our color to ONLY red. No need to remove the pink and white we had already glued…..JUST place all red on top of your next layer. We put on about 5 different layers of tissue paper and Mod Podge.
Final Product
THEN you can Re-Repurpose!
The beauty in this is the tin can vase can be reused as something else…..a pencil holder, marker holder, make up brush holder, utensil holder, etc. You can always put uncooked rice or dried beans in the bottom of the can for stability, if need be. AND if you want another color scheme just Mod Podge a different color of tissue paper over the red OR you can add fabric to the can like in the photo below. Either way it is “easy peasy”!!!
