Today I have a pretty quick craft for you! I was scouring Etsy and Pinterest looking at things I could make for fun with things around the house. I came across an Etsy page of a woman who makes tons of designs using tin cans. Some were painted one color and had some twine, and some had more detail or even decoupage. I feed my dogs green beans with every meal, so I always have a bunch of tin cans and figured why not play around with them?
Here’s what I used:
Tin cans
Goof off
Chalk and acrylic paints
Paint brushes
To start off, I tore off the paper label and got rid of it. There was glue on the cans and I got a lot of it off with just hot water, but on some of the cans it was a little stubborn so I used goof off on a rag and rubbed it off carefully. I always rinse my cans out before putting them in the bin so theyβre pretty clean, but I washed them out anyway and this helped get the rest of the glue residue off too.
Next, I picked my paint and my style. I was originally going to go with something simple just to be able to get the crafting motivation, but decided against that pretty quickly and grabbed a bunch of colors out of my paint tub. I painted 3 cans with a light blue chalk paint and the other 3 with a gray chalk paint and let it dry. The chalk paint was a little thick, so I did two layers to make it a solid coat.
I ended up making the gray cans a βnight timeβ theme and the blue cans a βday timeβ theme. With both, I started with a white splatter using white acrylic paint mixed in a little water and flicking the brush with my finger. For the night themed cans, I made a white crescent moon (which took a few layers) and added trees at the bottom. To make the trees, I picked a few shades of green and used a circular sponge brush to twist them on the bottom of the can. I did something similar on the daytime cans but didnβt use the darkest shade of green and added a very light one on top. With a smaller circle sponge brush, I used the same technique to make clouds. And using a normal paint brush with yellow and light orange paints, I made a sun.
To finish up, I signed my name on the bottom and snapped a lot of pictures. I can use them as pencil holders, brush holders, or even for small plants! Since I have an abundance of cans, Iβll play around a little on designs I like, but this was so much fun! Sometimes it just takes a new canvas. I even posted them on Etsy so if anyone likes them, you can get them in sets of 2 π What are some household items youβve upcycled lately? What should I try next? π As always, if you take any fun pictures or videos, tag me on Instagram @SmileMakePeopleWonder and use the hashtag #DandelionSmiles. Donβt forget to subscribe so you wonβt miss out on the next exciting idea.
Dandelion Smiles 