GENERAL CRAFTINGThis board is for the "orphan crafts" that have no boards. This is for crafts only. Other general non-craft posts can be posted in Just For Fun and will be moved when necessary. Questions for help go into HELP A CRAFTER.
I have just inherited ; about 200 coffee cans of different sizes and colors from my grandmother. Does anyone have a great source for how to craft with them. Any books, magazine or patterns would be most appreciated.
it is not exactly a craft but a good use for the large coffee can is a toaster.
it makes a great toaster for camping.you take a large coffee can and punch a bunch of holes in the bottom. then you place it over the burner of your camp stove with the bottom facing up. you lay your bread on top and happy toasting.
you can buy toasters for camping they hold four slices of bread but they dry the bread out before they toast it. this works great. and it is really quite fast.
There are some great ideas here. In the past I have turned many coffee cans into bunny baskets base coating white then sponging over all except where face willl be painted on. I made ears out of muslum and slid them over wire and painted pink in the middle area. I also used a nice easter print material and ripped a strip to use as a headband. They were adorable and I made all my nieces and nephews one a few years ago and filled it with homemade treats. I do the same for Halloween making pumpkins, scarecrows and witches and for Christmas santas with muslim beard and mustache, snowman, soldiers with fur around the top rim as his hat, angels , I used them as gift bags and also filled with cripex mix, chocolate covered pretzels, homemade cookies, even small jars of jams and jellies. The last snowman I made I glued dark grey felt aroudn the top and made a hem that I ran a cord so I could close the hat at the top. I even glued a wooden made pipe to his face. IT was adorable. Just use your imagination. They are fun adn reusable over and over
A couple of them posted as links I have either tried, or seen done.
The toilet paper holders are pretty cool, and the Snowman in a Can; is a big hit around here! The luminaries are pretty too!
One thing I can remember doing as a kid was placing them open-end down, poking holes on each side about an inch from the bottom, threading heavy cord/clothesline about 3 foot long through the holes with a knot to hold it in place. Viola! We had homemade stilts!
You may want to also consider donating some to cub scouts, girl. scouts, or some other non-profit entity. They can use them with the lids or some rubber to make some wonderful Indian drums among other things.
Although they probably are not worth much, doing this would make them a tax write-off
Now is a time I wish I had a camera. Anyway...If you'd like a center piece for a table here is what I made from a large can. SNOWMAN Candy dish...Cut the top and bottom from the can.Paint the inside of the can a color of your choice. Squeeze the bottom of the can together.Cover this with felt.Glue in place all around the can. I used my glue gun. Added a trim on top and bottom of can. Used a styro foam ball cut in half for the snowmans feet. Pushed the squeezed part into the styrofoam feet. Now using another styrofoam ball for the head. I glued on poppy eyes, orange bead for the nose and drew on a mouth. Using felt I made a hat and placed that on the head, glueing in place. Added some small decorations. Put little black button down the front of the snowman. Be sure to put the head on the back of the tin can. I added a few snowballs on the head and down by the feet. You may also add arms, made from twings. I did one up and put small ornaments on the bowl part and used for table decoration. I also did this with small soup cans. Idea came from Crafting Tradition magazine. Need more info, please PM me.
Coffee Can crafts 
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