Spring has sprung! If you’re like me, you spent this past colder-than-cold Michigan winter trying to stay warm the best way possible: eating lots of soup. And with soup consumption comes can collection. If you don’t have a local recycling center, don’t throw those tin cans away just yet! Take a look at what that can of vegetarian vegetable can do for you.

Did you know that the tin can, for food use, was invented in the early 1800s in England? How ’bout the fact that “tin” cans are actually steel products with a thin tin coating on them? I learned about tin cans from Spokane’s Solid Waste Web site. Learn more about the beauty of tin below:
Just the facts!

Tin pin cushions!
This is my favorite find for this week’s Web crawl. Leave it to Carol Duvall, the original craft diva, to provide a segment on her HGTV show about turning tin cans into sewing accessories. Good work!

The list of needed items might seem a bit long, but the bulk of the material list is dedicated to fun trimmings. The article, posted on HGTV’s very useful Web site and linked to you below, provides great steps and photos along the way to make your own pin cushion to be proud of. I think you have a lot of room to play around with this idea. For example, the cushion could take on various looks depending on what size can you use. By using a Campbell’s Chunky Soup can, you can have a larger-than-life place to hold your pins. On the other hand, using an old cat food can (cleaned out, of course) is a much smaller version and could be a great trinket to give as party favors. Try a variety of sizes!
Cushions

Tin as art
Did you know tin cans make great piece of art? It’s true!

The DIY Network has a great piece on artists who use tin cans to create everything from picture frames, seen above, to toy cars. Definitely a great way to think outside of that tin box.
DIY tin art

A proper place for pens
I like this idea as a “grown-up” alternative to the Father’s Day gifts I used to make in kindergarten class. You know what I’m talking about- the orange juice can that doubled as a pen cup for dad’s desk come June.

All Free Crafts’ tutorial is sure to spark your own great twists on this can classic.
Pen holders

“Glowing in the wind…”
Like candles? Make sure to grab your cans and check out this site:
Candle crafts with tin