Favour Cans....

I was trying to get this tutorial done for Someday Crafts' Categorically Crafting, back n May, but just couldn't with Cheeky Monkey's party planning taking over so here it is....

The Princess wants an "Under the Sea" party for her 3rd in August, so I attempted to take the millions (it seems like it) of formula cans and turn them into a Favour Tin of some sort.

1. Gathering of materials I needed:
a formula tin, or any tin (coffee, pirouline, etc), scrapbook paper, glue gun and glue, paper cutter, measuring tape, modge podge, ribbon, Cricut, & Create-a-Critter cartridge)
* No Cricut, no problem just gather stickers, and embellishments in the theme you choose.

2. Removed the paper from the outside of the can. Also I washed out the inside of the can & the cover (make sure you dry it very good.)

                                                      

3. I cut out my embellishments from the Cricut cartridge on my Expression (gotta love Mr. Man for getting me this for our anniversary last year) Then assembly the cut-outs with a glue stick or brush and paper glue (your choice).

  

                                        Here are the finished embellishments I chose for the can:

                                             

4. Now since it was going to be kids getting these I wanted to be safe (the inside of these cans are sharp. I have cut myself several times when scooping out the powder)

...So what I did is took my glue gun and ran several row of hot glue around the edge until it was built up and covered the sharp edge. Then I took a length of ribbon and started to cover the glue rows with it by running the hot glue around the top just inside the rim and the glue on the sharp edge. Pressing it in as I went along.

 

Voila!!!!!! 

Here is what the inside looked like after I finished.....No more Sharp edges!!






5. Then I took the measurements of the can from rim to rim. [Mine was 13 cm (4 15/16th")]. Then measured the circumference, mine: 41 cm (16.5")....scrapbook paper is only 12 X 12 so I had to piece together some pages.

 

I used an elastic to secure the paper until the hot glue dried, which I ran around the edges and the overlap of the paper. I did not remove all the glue from the can's wrapper and made use of this to hold the paper in place too.

6. Then I attached the embellishments to the outside once it was dry.

                          Here's what the shell says... 

7. Modge Podge the circle that fit just inside the dip in the cover, approx. 5" diameter. Then added the crab.

                         

8. Ta-da!!! You're done...now fill with the treats.

           It was a hit with the Princess, she carries it around all the time talking about her party.

* A few of things I will do differently on the next one:

1. I would have changed is putting ribbon length under the scrapbook paper in the beginning so as to create a handle to carry it.

2. Modge Podge didn't really stick the crab circle to the cover, so I would use glue dots next time.

3. Option to the  crab and circle would be to make a hole so the favour tin becomes a bank after.

4. Ribbon around the bottom rim 

I hope that I made tis tutorial understandable. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions about what I did. I will post pictures of the other tins as they are completed. 

I also used one as a time capsule for the Princess' 1st birthday....now must make one for the Cheeky Monkey's 1st birthday!!!!

My little sister wants to use some for her wedding next year, possible table decorations...will keep you posted.

I have linked up to these Link Parties, but I put the most current link parties here too.

                          

Have a good one everyone!

Ciao,

Angela

A Mama with 2 Cents Worth to Share

Earth Day is April 22nd!

Earth Day is coming up and I want to try to pay hommage to the Earth from now until the end of the month with as much eco-friendly ideas, activities & crafts.

My first idea that I want to get families together on is the fact that trying to reduct our waste output is important to where we can go in the future. One way we can do this is by practicing the
3 Rs: Reducing, Reusing & Recycling.

My family craft is to create:

Upcycled Crayons
All over the internet everyone is blogging about taking the old crayons that are maybe broken or stubs and giving them new life through upcycling them into new crayons.
The Princess & I first tried this as Valentine gifts for the family she also of course claimed some for herself. She really enjoyed helping break the crayons and combine colours in the muffin tins. She was taken back by the crayons that came out once they had cooled. Here is how we did it:

Upcycled Crayons:
1. First, gather your supplies (this would be great way to finish off the school year my celebrating the beginning of summer and the end of school through the melting down of the old crayons from school and making new ones to be used for the summer), you'll need old crayons with the wrappers removed; muffin tin (metal/ silicone); cooking spray (to keep them from sticking) or cupcake liners or waxed paper squares (cut in  about 6"X6" to line the tins; an oven and a timer.
2.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
3.Break up crayons and divide them in the cups of the muffin tin in the colour combinations of your choice. *We found that there are some colours that don't really work well together, like peach and yellow, and browns and blacks. But it really also depends on the wax content of the crayons. We found that the Crayola brand and the Rose Art brands are the better when it comes to wax content, some brands have too much oil that doesn't allow the colours to come through as well.
4. Once broken crayons are in the tins, place in the oven for 20 minutes or depending on if you have an oven that runs hotter, until the crayons are melted.
5. Remove them from the oven and place either on a cooling rack or in the freezer (speeds up the cooling process) until the new upcycled crayons are solid.
6. Turn out of the muffin tin cups, and remove the paper if used.
7. Hand them over to the kids with some paper and see their reaction to the new found colour-bration. It will be something you will wanna try too because it really is nostalgic.
Marie at Make and Takes blogs about how she recycled crayons along with variations to her process and if you scroll down the post she pastes other blogs that also brought old boring crayons new life full of colour-plosion.

I hope that you'll give this a try and teach you children about recycling and being eco-friendly even when they are just hanging out.

You can also try different shaped muffin tins and silicone ice cube trays to create homemade gifts for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Birthdays, Party Favours, etc.

A great way to get you kids away from the commercial gifts and feeling proud of something they made for the receiver.

Hope I inspired you to get a little greener for the Earth!

Angela

A Mama with 2 Cents Worth to Share