Recycled Can Pen Holders

It's Spring Break, and this year I thought I'd find some fun things for us to do. Here is the craft the girls did yesterday, along with a friend, recycling cans into pen/pencil holders. Not only did they all enjoy it, but their friend said it was the "funnest craft I've ever done!"



What you need:

- clean cans with labels removed (soup, fruit & vegetables, coffee, etc... the large one in the picture is actually a big hot cocoa container, the kind with cardboard sides & metal bottom/top rim)

- Mod Podge (I prefer the matte finish variety)

- 1" foam brush

- assorted paper - construction paper, typing paper, scrapbook paper, magazine pages, paper candy wrappers, old book pages, whatever kind of paper your child will find creative!

- other flat embellishments such as ribbons, lace, buttons, paper doilies, etc. - again, the sky is the limit, be creative!

- craft scissors

- plastic placemat, plastic tablecloth, or some other way to protect your table from the glue



Here's how we did it:

Cut or tear paper to fit the cans. You can use one piece to wrap the whole way around the can, or you can cover just a part of the can at a time with different papers.

** Note: If you want to write something on your paper, it needs to be done before you glue it to your can, and you need to use colored pencils (pens & markers will smudge & run when they get wet with the Mod Podge)

Paint the back of the paper with Mod Podge, getting glue all the way to the edges of the paper.

Lay the paper on the can where you want it, then gently smooth it to remove any air bubbles. If an edge or corner does not lay down, add more Mod Podge underneath.

Cut or tear smaller pieces of paper into shapes, strips, or whatever you'd like to add as embellishments on top of the first paper layer.

Paint embellishments with Mod Podge in the same way, and stick on.

Repeat this process for any ribbons, lace, candy wrappers, and so forth. Three dimensional embellishments such as buttons can be added after all the other items are added.

Paint over all of your artwork with a generous coating of Mod Podge, to seal and finish. Don't worry, it will dry clear!



This is a house of girls, so our cans turned out mostly feminine. However, boys would love this craft too, using magazine pages & colored papers to their tastes, perhaps with twine, shoelaces, candy wrappers... what can they find that is flat and can be glued?