Recycled Coffee Cans

Save And Decorate Old Coffee Cans

Don't throw those tins away! Coffee cans and other food tins make terrific and practical recycled items.

Empty food tins can be decorated as little or as much as you like. I love ribbon and trims, so this was a perfect project to use up short scraps, making this project even more eco-nomical and -logical.

This can would be perfect for all your paper cutting scissors. It would also work for paint brushes, colored pencils and pens or even kitchen utensils.

Recycled Coffee Can Materials

• Any size coffee can (save the plastic lid for another project)
• Various colors and widths of ribbon and decorative trim
• Gloss black spray paint or color of your choice
• Four 1-inch wood dowel caps
• 5 and 10 mm pom-poms - optional
• Delta Ceramcoat black acrylic paint or color of your choice
• Paint brush
• Delta Ceramcoat water based varnish
• Scissors
• Measuring tape or ruler
• Flat back rhinestones - optional
• E6000 Industrial Strength Craft Glue
• Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue
• Dritz Fray Check

Assembly Instructions

Wash the can out with soap and water and let dry.

Spray the outside of the can with black paint.

Measure the side of the can from the bottom of the top rim to the top of the bottom rim. Cut ribbons and trims to this measurement. Cut just enough to do a quarter of the can at a time so you don't waste any. Use Fray Check on both ends of each ribbon and trim to prevent unraveling.

Run a bead of Clear Gel Glue along the bottom of the top rim working on a quarter of the can at a time. Also run some glue where the ribbons will lay but lightly rub the glue smooth so it won't show through later. Run another bead of glue along the bottom rim and smooth in the same fashion.

Lay down the pre-cut ribbon strips and trim side by side smoothing them down to the bottom rim. Let each section dry completely before going to the next.

Continue as above until the entire outside of the can is covered with ribbon and trim. The pieces can also be laid on top of each other for added interest as I have done. When everything is dry you can add any other embellishments you might like. I added rhinestones and 5 mm pom-poms to some of the trim and little cut out pieces of trim to the sides.

Glue a trim around the top and bottom covering the cut ends of the trim and ribbon.

Paint the dowel caps with acrylic black paint and, when dry, glue them to the bottom of the can using E6000 glue. When the glue is completely dry, paint the dowel caps with water based sealer.

Glue 10 mm pom-poms around the very top of the can if you like.