How to Repurpose Old Formula and Snack Cans

Do you find yourself frequently throwing away empty cans? We go through a ton of cans and containers in our house. It seems like my toddler is forever devoted to her beloved crunchy snacks (seen below), and we go through containers of them ALL the time. The crafty person inside me cringes every time I throw those empty cans away, because I know there are ways to repurpose them! Then I look around at how tiny my house is and toss them anyway. (We unfortunately don’t have a recycling program where I live, or else I would totally recycle!)

I’ve been waiting for a little inspiration to hit me before I kept a container to repurpose, and that bright idea finally hit me late last week. I love to change out the centerpieces on my kitchen table from time to time, so I thought I’d take a stab at throwing something great together with some craft supplies that I had lying around.

First I rinsed out the crumbs from my daughter’s empty snack canister and set it aside. If you want, you can spray paint the can to prevent any of the colors from showing through, but I found that that step wasn’t really necessary.

Next I went straight to the craft box in my closet and started plundering through some of the things I already had. Here’s what I used. (Affiliate links included)

1. Twine (I actually use a thicker macrame cord (like this one) to use for my projects)
2. Low-temp hot glue gun
3. Floral scrapbook stickers (I can’t remember where I got mine from, but I love this set and this set from Amazon!)
4. Floral foam (You can find this in the craft section of Walmart next to the floral flowers. OR you can find it here).
5. Artificial flowers
6. Heavy duty scissors or wire cutters

I plugged up my hot glue gun and let it heat up. Keeping the twine on the roll, I glued the end to the very bottom edge of the can and started wrapping it carefully around the can. I made sure to put a dab of hot glue on the cord every now and then as I was wrapping it to prevent it from getting loose. It took me just a few minutes to finish wrapping the entire can.

I picked out a few floral scrapbook stickers and glued them on the front of the can. I cut some floral foam down to size to fit in my can without being seen. Then I took my scissors and cut several flowers (keeping some of the stem) and stuck them down into the floral foam until I had a nice, full bouquet.

In less than 15 minutes I had completely transformed a can that was destined for the trash and gave it a whole new life!  The best part about this project is that I can change out the color of the flowers in the can and take this look straight into Fall and Winter! And if I really wanted to, I could use it as storage for bathroom supplies, office supplies, and this list goes on!

How would you repurpose old snack or formula cans? I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas! I’m always looking for fun new ways to repurpose things. Leave a comment and share your trash-to-treasure story!