CRAFTY WEDNESDAY!

As you know I have a problem.  I absolutely hoard objects for crafting.  I looked around today, trying to think of what to do for Crafty Wednesday, and I saw that I had no less than five coffee cans in my stash!  Since I need them for storage, I thought it was high time I did something with them!  I have to let you know, I am out of batteries for my camera, so I will update this when I get hubs to get me some.  I thought it better to go ahead and post it, don't want to get too far behind!  Read on for my crafty goodness!

Okay, like I said, no batteries for my camera, so I will update this when I get them.  On with the coffee can project!

I basically pulled everything out that I had to possibly decorate them.  I was soon in a pile of yard, fabric scraps, paints, glue, jewels, craft sticks, etc.  I noticed that I had an abundance of T-shirt yarn and in the colors I needed to match my room (purple and green).  So I decided to use that to decorate my cans.

This is a very easy project!  First a word on how to make T-Shirt Yarn.  Gather up some old T-Shirts you don't wear any longer.  In my case I saved about 10 shirts out of my son's "donate to Goodwill" box.  Making them into yarn is simple.

T-SHIRT YARN

You will need:

Old T-Shirts

Scissors

PROCESS

1.  Cut across your shirt just below the arm pits.  

2.  Cut the hem off the bottom of the shirt.  You should have a square or rectangle ring left.

3.  Cut the square (or rectangle) into 2-3 inch strips.

4.  Here's the fun part!  Grab a strip by both ends and PULL!  Give it a good pull 2-3 times and it will roll on the edges and look like rope!

5.  Repeat with remaining strips.  You can cut them and tie them together and roll like a ball of yarn, or just leave them in loops and hang them from a hook or something until you are ready to use them.

I leave mine in loops in case I want to make them into something where a loop is needed.  You can make tons of things out of them: necklaces, rugs, wall hangings, etc.

So, here is what I did with my yarn to decorate two of my cans.  I glued the yarn onto my cans in different patterns to make them beautiful!  I did vertical stripes on some, horizontal stripes on some. I added some braided T-Shirt Yarn to the top of the Vertically striped can.  I also made a flower by coiling some of the yarn and glued it to the Horizontally striped can after covering it with yarn.  I also added a T-Shirt Yarn braid to top it off!

PICTURE COMING

One can got a fabric treatment with Modge-Podge.  Just cut a piece of fabric to fit and glue it to your can.  Then coat the fabric on the can with Modge-Podge!  My fabric had flowers on it so I opted to glue little acrylic jewels to the centers (have to wait till can is dry before adding them!).  This can got a few loops of T-Shirt Yarn on the top to make it blend in with the other cans!

PICTURE COMING

The last can got the craft stick treatment!  I simply glued purple and green craft sticks in vertical rows to the sides of the can.  To top it off and for continuity, I added a few loops of T-Shirt yarn to the top of the can.

PICTURE COMING

Do you save coffee cans?  How do you decorate them?  I hope you enjoyed this post and will decorate some cans too!  Fill them with pens, pencils, markers, scissors, fabric or paper scraps!  The possibilities are endless!  Let me know how you decorate yours!

Happy Decorating!

Love and Hugs!

Jillie