Let’s Recycle! Altered Peanut Can

Originally posted on August 21, 2009

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If you’re looking to make a new project, instead of heading to the store just have a look around your house for inspiration! There are so many things we throw away on a daily basis that can be saved and altered into something fun and new.

Today I’m going to show you how I altered a peanut can and made it into a mini album.

The first thing you need to do with any recycled object that you plan to use in a craft project is clean it. I washed the inside of my peanut can really well and took the label off of the outside of the can and made sure there was no leftover residue from the label adhesive. We want to start with a smooth surface!

I wrapped the can with two different green patterned papers (any adhesive will work here, but I used a thin layer of Mod Podge), added some green ribbon to cover the seam between the papers (use Glue Dots or run your ribbon through a Xyron machine to attach it to the papers), and started decorating.

I cut some various-sized circles out of the same patterned paper I used to cover the can. I crumpled them and layered them. I also cut some of the green ribbon to look like leaves and stuck it between the layers. I then used my Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole through each set of flowers and leaves and used a small green brad to connect them. I used glue dots to attach the flowers to the can.

I stamped my Heidi Swapp *love* stamp with some green ink on some white cardstock and cut it out with my X-acto knife. I then ran the word through my Xyron sticker maker to attach it to the can.

I cut more circles, all of the same size this time, crumpled them, added leaves made out of ribbon and layered all of this to make a large flower to go on the top of my can.

Surprise! Take the lid off of the can and a mini accordian album comes out (attached to the lid of the can).

I cut more circles to use as the pages of my mini album. I’ll explain the pieces of paper I used to connect the circles to each other in just a minute.

Adhering paper to a flexible lid can be a little tricky, as I found out. I started out thinking glue stick, but once the glue tried it became rigid, same with Mod Podge. I ended up attaching the paper with a few glue dots just around the edges of the paper every inch or so. Worked like a dream!

To attach the circles to each other and create the accordian album, I cut 2 rectangles of paper, scored the middle of each one, and adhered one on each side of the circle pages. Voilà! An accordian album!

I think for my next recycled project I may try to do something with this bubble gum jar. I love the shape of it! I’m thinking a toy container for my son or maybe something for my scrap desk like a ribbon holder maybe… We’ll have to see!