Tin Can Vases

Tin Can Vases
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Have you thought how many tin cans you throw away every month or in a year? Let’s not throw them away: These cans are actually great for lots of fun little makeover projects! I’ll show you a really cute makeover idea in this post. This time you’ll learn how to turn empty cans into cute vases. These lovely vases are just perfect to decorate your outdoor coffee table with this summer 🙂

 

Here’s a list of supplies you need:

  • Clean, empty tin cans – remove the paper label if there’s one

  • Rust-Oleum Chalked or similar. Chalk paint is perfect for this, since you can use it for pretty much any material. Easy to apply and no paint smell.

  • A small paint brush. The biggest brush in this set would be my choice.

  • Decoupage glue or any washable liquid glue and water to make your own decoupage. For mixing you also need a small container with a lid, a mason jar for example.

 

 

Let’s do the makeover!

Flipping tin cans from trash to treasure – here’s how to get started.

Here you see the same paint but the look of the product is different for the European market.

1. Grab your cans and paint them white with Rust-Oleum Chalked. Then let dry for an hour or so. So why are we painting? You’ll see soon. This layer of paint is for creating a plain white base. Another quick option to do this would be white spray paint, but it’s smelly and messy… I love to use chalk paint for just about everything. It sticks on any material. It doesn’t smell or drip and it covers with one coat. And with just one small can of paint you can go a long way. Just an awesome product to be honest!

 

2. (This part you can skip if you already have decoupage glue.) Make your own decoupage mix. To mix the glue and water you need a mason jar with a lid or similar plastic container. In my mix I used the same amount of both glue and water. Half a cup glue and half a cup water. Pour both in the jar. Close the lid and shake well. That’s it, you’ve got decoupage!

 

3. Have your beautiful napkins ready. Cut your napkin to fit the can. Leave a little extra on top so that you can fold it in and get a nice look on the opening, too. I recommend that you cut at least two pieces two decoupage around the can in sections. It’s much easier to decoupage this way. If your napkins have layers, remove the bottom layers since you’ll only use the top layers to decoupage. This is the reason we painted the cans white first. The napkin is so thin that it wouldn’t look nice with out the base color. If you don’t remove the bottom layers of the napkin, you’ll have big trouble creating an even surface with the decoupage technique.

 

4. Apply your decoupage glue on the painted can. But not on the whole can yet, just the part you want to cover with the part of napkin. Hold the can by placing your hand inside it, so you won’t get glue on your hands.

 

5. Lay the napkin straight on the tin can. Here’s a really great tip:take a piece of cling wrap to help get the napkin smooth on the tin can. Through the plastic you’re able to carefully smoothen the surface without ripping the thin paper napkin.

 

 

 

6. Work the next section the same way: decoupage – napkin – wrap. Keep working on sections all the way round by using the glad wrap. If you have some extra napkin on the top, fold it inside the tin can and apply decoupage glue on it to make it stick.

 

7. Carefully remove the plastic wrap and let dry overnight.

 

8. On the next day finish the vases with water based furniture lacquer and let them dry overnight. This Polyclyric is a great product for this purpose. Beautiful matte finish and cleans up with water.

 

And now these beautiful vases are ready to brighten up your day. Quite a transformation from trash to treasure!
Happy crafting!

 

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