Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Pop Top Can Tutorial

Here is a project I shared at the party that I promised to come back and share more details and pics for: a pop top can full of get well goodies! All you need are a pop top can and smooth edge can opener, I got this one from Pampered Chef.* It is a great can opener to have, not having to worry about cutting yourself or your precious little kids fingers on a jagged edge! After taking off the BOTTOM lid, I removed all the contents, washed the can and removed the label. Now it is ready to alter, don't throw out that lid, because you're going to glue it back on!

Although I took some liberties on the design to make it prettier, I intentionally made the top of the can red (the new Lipstick Red, cuttlebugged with Victoria) and framed up my soup bowl to look like a packaging label, referencing a can of Campbell's Soup, of course to go with my soup bowl image! The bowl is paper pieced with the same DP as on the bottom of the can, Basic Grey Junebug, doesn't that pattern look so elegant on the china bowl? I put a punched border of Black Onyx in between the two papers. That gorgeous border around the image and sentiment is from the new StampTV Kit "Organize It!" and I just love how this looks around a single image and greeting from "Square Pegs"! I colored it with Lionet Gold Copic.


After decorating you. re ready to stuff it with goodies! I put kisses and tea bags in mine. It is best to choose things that are individually wrapped if possible to keep the contents fresh and prevent a mess. Then you just glue the bottom back on and let it dry over night with a strong glue like super glue, E-6000, etc. Leave it bottom up and perhaps put something heavy on top of it. Hot glue might work also, if it does, let me know!

Last I added some of the gold lined black organdy ribbon around the pop top, it looks prettier and makes it easier to grab onto the top to pull it up.


Here is a closeup of the label. I actually cut out the middle of the bowl where the soup would be colored it in with Lionet Gold Copic, which I also used on the border, and then added the small strip of bowl above it with my Quickie glue pen. Instead of trying to snip around the steam, I just colored that part in with my white Inkssentials pen. I added a little shadow below the bowl onto the dish right over the pattern (this really adds a lot of depth to your paper piecing, try it!)and underneath it with C-3 Cool Gray Copic.

These pop top cans are such a fun and inexpensive way to present a gift, and later the can can be re-purposed as a pretty pencil holder. You might want to put another label on the back with a get well recipe or message to further personalize it. I will be back with more projects with this image, it's one of my favorite in the set, and not just for soup! :)

* if you are looking for a GREAT Pampered Chef Consultant (or interested in becoming one), I'd like to recommend our dear friend Ana Lewis. My husband has know her since college and she already involved with Pampered Chef when I met her in 1997 (has a huge downline and earns the dream vacation every year), and has four children of her own, three of which she home schools, so she REALLY knows about juggling a family, home, career and still have time to make wonderful meals for the family while feeling pampered in the kitchen! A wonderful tip she had for me when she sold me on this can opener years ago (before I even had kids!) was to create a mini pantry so to speak of assorted emptied cans for her daughter's little play kitchen! She had stacks of empty fruit cocktail, tomato sauce and soup cans she was able to pretend going to the grocery store and use to "make dinner", so cute! You can find Ana's website here.


PS Ana did NOT ask me to tell you about her :)

12 comments:

  1. I have made these for my grandkids and put Webkinz in them. They thought it was so cool. I also did some for valentines with candy in them. I used hot glue and it works fine, only problem is I burned myself on the glue trying to keep it looking clean. I am going to try your glue method. Your's is very beautiful. Thanks for the ideas with the cuddlebug and border. I am going to use that on my next one too.

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  2. whoa, great tutorial!! Gonna try it out one day! Thanks a lot for this inspiration idea!

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  3. Such a cute idea - never saw this one before! I will have to try this one!

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  4. I've heard people talk about this idea,but had never seen how to do it. Thanks for coming back and posting the instructions.

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  5. I've got cans!!! I actually look for things with pop top cans so I can add to my collection. They are such fun to make, and the recipients are always so surprised (especially the first time they get one). Once I actually left the soup label on the can and the surprise was even more fun, I think. It didn't shake like soup, and it certainly didn't contain soup!!!

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  6. wMy daughter and I have made these cans and we found that Crystal Effects from Stampin Up works the best and is the easiest to use. I do love making these cans, pork n bean cans works really good too.

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  7. Love this idea Mel! Now I need one of those can openers...I must be the last person that does not have one :o)

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  8. YUM-MY! :-p And gorgeous paper!... Plus is that a new Cuttlebug folder?... *envious*

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  9. What a darling idea!! Going to the pantry right now and -- see what we have to eat in order to do one of these cans! Hee, hee -- Thank you for the great idea and instructions!

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  10. Thanks for the tutorial. Looks like a great way to make that special little gift look extra special cool. With your Cuddlebug top this is so cool and expensive looking for gifting!

    When my kids were young, I would take index cards and glue food labels to the front. Then I would organize my index cards according to my favorite store layout. When we would grocery shop, the cards went with us. Each isle would keep the kids busy. I would had out the needed cards to the kids to look for each item in that isle. It was a lot of work setting up, but it sure paid off to keep my kids busy and happy in the grocery store.

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