Saturday, November 29, 2008

A New Use for Recycling Drink Cans

Isn't this a great idea for a homemade gift?  One of my daughters was having trouble coming up with a Christmas present idea for a friend at college.  I asked, "What does he like?  Does he have a favorite food?  Drink?"  Turns out his favorite drink is the soft drink, Sierra Mist.  At college, he mixes it with cranberry juice.

We made a trip to Walmart, and low and behold, this year they are making Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash!  Can you believe it?  Turns out he came up with a great combination!  We bought a 12 pack, along with an inexpensive picture frame in the craft department.

Then we commenced with drinking lots of Sierra Mist!  I pushed it with every meal.  We made a paper pattern for each side of the frame and cut up the empty, rinsed cans.  (Yes, I saved the pop tabs for a later use!)  We traced the patterns on the underside of the can pieces and cut them with some heavy duty (non-fabric!) scissors.  We made the patterns so that the corners are even mitered - aren't you impressed!  I not very good at mitered corners in quilts, but these turned out well.

We carefully folded the pieces around the frame, having enough excess to fold to the back side.  Then we used a staple gun, stapling on the inner edges and the back, so no staples show.  We think it turned out pretty great.  She's filled it with a piece of glass from an old frame and a favorite photo. 

I'd like to do more of these.  They'd look great with a small, funky quilt in them, would they?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes it is a fabulous hand made gift. Your daughter's college friend will be very impressed. Had to laugh at the thought of you all drinking this drink at meal times just to get the cans. Haven't seen it here in England. Reminds me of the many times my family had to eat or drink something for the packaging. I am a retired teacher and often needed a certain article for my class of children. (usually 25 -30 of something !)