i am looking for craft ideas of things you can make from soda or beer cans.....any ideas?

Answer 1

Cut the top and bottom of the cans off with tin snips and open up so you have a flat piece of metal. Using a dry ball point pen, draw a design on the printed side so it will be raised on the plain side. You can use this to decorate cards or cut into shapes to use as tree ornaments. You can also use an awl to punch a design on the metal and wrap around votive holders and secure with craft wire and beads for pretty candle lanterns.

Answer 2

Pop Can Christmas Tree Craft

Find out how to make this easy yet creative Christmas craft! Follow the directions shared by Cindy from WI and you can make a Christmas tree using soda pop cans!
Materials Needed:


27 Soda Cans - empty and rinsed out
1 or 2 strands of x-mas tree lights, depending how many are in the strand
Hot Glue Gun and Glue or Liquid Nails (See Tip from Dorothy below)
Spray Paint
Duct Tape
1 piece of plywood or foam core board
Instructions:
You want to create a tree shape with your cans... For the trunk of the tree. put three on the bottom and then three on the top of those, gluing the sides of them together with hot glue. Next, form the first row of six cans by gluing the sodes of the cans together, then centering and gluing to the trunk (3 cans in 2 rows) you created. Make sure the bottom of the can faces out. The next row will have 5 cans, the next row has 4, then 3, then 2, and then finally the 1 for the top.

At this point you can spray paint your can tree green (or whatever color you desire) to resemble a tree.

Take your strands of lights and push one or two lights up between the cans so you can see the light shining between the bottoms of the cans. Secure with duct tape in the back if needed.

To hang your tree outside, glue onto a piece of plywood or if its for inside you can use foam core board.

As an option you can paint or use stickers on the bottom of the cans to decorate the tree with ornaments or even put a star on top.

Be creative!

Tip From Dorothy Hall: "I have been making these for years only I use 55 cans for tree and 8 cans for trunk. Now I must share with you... Hot Glue WILL NOT tolerate cold weather and/or temperature changes. Cans will pop apart. Liquid Nails or Aluminum adhesive is the only thing I have found to be lasting."



Pop-Can Art

Twist off the pop-top and crush the can by stepping on it or twisting and compressing with your hands (your choice). Spray-paint the can, then use acrylic paints to decorate the top of the can to resemble a face -- the opening of the can is always the mouth. Nail yarn in a loop to use as the tree hook. Be creative and come up with as many different designs as possible.

Products: All supplies needed for these cans, including fun foam, can be found in any art store.

There are a lot more ideas here - to many to list instuctions for :

http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/canstincoffeecanschipcansartscraftsideaskids.html

Answer 3

believe it or not...i made a lamp out of cut up pepsi cans my junior year of highschool. i used one whole can for the base...empty the soda out, drill/stab a hole in the back side of the can but towards the bottom (make sure its a little bigger than the cord). and a few small little holes in the top of the can for air to get through but do this after you put the weighter inside cut the plug part of the cord off and wire it through the can start at the top and pull through the bottom/side/back (kind of tricky). pull the cord all the way through so the part you put the light bulb is tight to the top of the can. hot glue around the base of the light buld part to the can to seal it air tight. TURN THE CAN ON ITS SIDE and pour liquid plater into the can and wipe the outside with a damp cloth. hot glue that hole air tight...again making sure the cord is pulled out as far as it goes. let dry...the plaster will weight the can down so it wont tip over when set up right. then for the lamp shade....get a small enough lamp shade for this project so it wont be too top heavy...cut apart lots of soda cans...i did just the logos of the cans and over lapped them so the entire lamp shade was covered in alluminum. this take many many soda cans so save them up or go digging through your entire family's recycling bins. (lol) or you can drink a 24 pack or two or three for a few days straight...when the plaster is dry...turn it up right...the drying may take a while...hours-a day or two depending on the product. assembly: put a light bulb in the light socket and then put the lamp shade on top. vuala!

Answer 4

I seen people wear knitted hats. The aluminum can is flattened out, squared cutted out and knitted into the hat shape. They fit around the head. And top off the top part.

Wind chimes? Use fishing line, add a few lightweight rocks.

Construct a mini London bridge?

Answer 5

Even my son's weddings invitations got crafts from cans... That is my hobby and also the way I earn money. Also have some groups and page free for you to check. In yahoo http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cancrafts/ and in the MSN comunity http://groups.msn.com/RECY-CANRECI-LATAS/_whatsnew.msnw
I'm not sure how to post a picture, but also got a page in http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a122/ENNOVY16/

Answer 6

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/fork6/l/bltrashtr.htm is just one of the categories for recycling crafts, cans included

Answer 7

They used to make them into hats. Fish, trains, boats, etc.