DIY Upcycled Tin/Formula Cans as Cookie Tins for Christmas

 

Grinch Cookie Tins

I am always looking for ways to craft on a budget and often think about the various uses for most items for decreasing the cost of my crafting projects.  I love the dollar store because you can literally find most anything and with a little imagination turn them from junky to classy with a little effort.  I know that it is hardly September already and the idea of Christmas is a little soon, but I have learned from several past Christmas’s that it never pays to try to cram it all in starting in November.

I usually give away fudge or cookies for Christmas presents to friends and family along with DIY bath bombs that are completely amazing, thank you Pinterest and a Lush hack I found a few years ago.  Since I hand craft so many things I always like to create my own customized packaging for that extra special flair.  Since my husband and I carpool to work each morning, I have time to endlessly search Pinterest for great ideas and recently stumbled on a pin that used tin cans for cookie tins.  I instantly thought this was a great idea to use something that I literally just recycle all of the time and could further decrease my cost for Christmas, so an idea was born.

I was searching for the perfect cookie recipes to suit my family and friends personalities and came across one for Grinch cookies and voila the perfect way to decorate this can was born!  This craft is fairly simple since the Grinch face is fairly easy to draw/paint, so I immediately purchased a can opener that removes the lids without sharp edges and got to work.

What is great about this is that they can actually use the can as holiday decoration for years to come if they would like too!

Materials Needed:

• Cans in varied sizes opened with a safety can opener or formula cans
• Lime green acrylic paint
• Red acrylic paint
• Yellow acrylic paint
• Black acrylic paint

Step 1:  Paint a base coat on the can and lids using the lime green paint in 3-4 coats.

Step 2:  Using the yellow paint, draw on the eyes as pictured above.

Step 3:  Outline the eyes in black and add eyelashes, eyebrows, nose, mouth and lip.  Throw in a few lines here and there to make him look like his hair is scruffy.

Step 4:  On the back draw a heart using the red paint and then add two dotted outlines of a heart to represent the Grinch’s heart growing three sizes.

Step 5:  To secure the lid back into place to keep your cookies fresh and repackage them use some hot glue to secure them back on (this step is not necessary if you are using formula cans).

Step 6:  This is for the formula can lids.  Mine were the Kirkland formula which has printing on the lid, so to remove this print simply use 100% acetone nail polish remover and it will quickly wipe off.

And ta da, you now have cute cookie tins for everyone to enjoy at almost no cost to you at all!  I plan on using the smaller cans to put my bath bombs into since they really don’t hold many cookies.  I love to use V-8 cans for the cookies or other larger and stubbier cans.

This Grinch Cookie Recipe found on Pinterest makes a great treat to fill your new Grinch Cookie tins:  The Grinch Who Stole Christmas Cookie recipe!

 
Happy crafting!