Tin Can Door Decor

You’ve heard the saying, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” Well, I love to make projects that “upcycle” junk into treasure. For my first project as a design team member, I’m going to show you how to make a tin can into a cool piece of door decor.

Note: I am a Design Team member for The Crafter’s Workshop; however, even though I use and love their products, all opinions are solely my own.

Supplies needed:
98 lb. mixed media paper, printed tissue paper, large tin can, wire for hanger
TCW9011 Matte Gel Medium, TCW 9007 Clear Gesso
TCW Heavy Body Acrylic Paint: Lemon Custard, Spun Sugar, Grape Jelly, Kale Smoothie
Folk-Art Antiquing Medium – Nutmeg, paint primer
Stencils: TCW733s Mini Leafy Texture, TCW727 Flower Dance
Inks: Distress Ink – Peeled Paint, Archival Ink – Jet Black
“Hello” Chipboard – Michaels
Krylon Workable Fixatif
brayer, paint brushes, fabric sponges, blending tool, rubber stamp, Pentel EnerGel Liquid Gel Ink pen – black

For the project, I began with 98 lb. mixed media paper and some printed tissue paper. To attach the tissue paper, I painted a thin layer of matte gel medium onto the mixed media paper, laid the tissue paper down, and used a brayer to roll over it to adhere without a lot of wrinkles. If you have some bubbles, just poke them with a straight pin and then roll over with the brayer again. Let dry.In order to keep the writing visible on the tissue paper, I painted a thin layer of clear gesso over the tissue paper and let it dry.Next I stenciled Leafy Texture using Peeled Paint Distress Ink onto the tissue paper. To make sure that the Distress Ink wouldn’t bleed when I stenciled the purple flowers, I sprayed four thin layers of Krylon Workable Fixative making sure to dry in between each layer.I chose Flower Dance to stencil the large flowers onto the paper. To make sure I only stenciled the flowers and not the leaves, I taped over the leaves with washi tape, and then using the Grape Jelly paint I stenciled the flowers and let them dry.Next, I mixed Kale Smoothie and Lemon Custard to make a leafy green color, stenciled that, and dried it completely with a hair dryer.I wanted the page to look aged, so I mixed some Folk-Art Antiquing Medium with water and painted a wash over the paper. (Make sure to test a small area before painting over the whole thing.) I blotted with Viva paper towels to remove excess from the piece until I was satisfied with the look. I let that dry completely, then outlined all the stencil work with a black Pentel EnerGel liquid gel ink pen. Dry thoroughly. (Note: It’s important to let the paper dry completely before adding the pen details, because if you try to add details on damp paper, it will bleed.)Once dry, I stamped all over with black Archival Ink and a Stampin’ Up paint splatter stamp.The “Hello” chipboard was painted yellow, then antiqued with the Folk-Art Medium. Once that was thoroughly dry, I added detailing with the black Pentel EnerGel pen.I took a large tin can and cut the top and bottom lids off with a can opener. Next, I banged the can using a rubber mallet so it was squashed at the bottom and gradually became wider as you went up the can. I painted the can with primer and let that dry thoroughly.

I painted the can light yellow with a mixture of Lemon Custard and Spun Sugar. Then, because it was too bright, I mixed white gesso into that color to make it lighter yellow and added a second coat.In the end, I also antiqued the can, drilled 2 side holes for the wire to slip through, and epoxy-glued the bottom of the can shut. I glued the stenciled paper onto the can with matte gel medium and then glued the word onto the paper with matte gel medium also. I added some felt cushions on the back to protect the door.

My door decor hangs in my Studio holding cards from my friends. Dried or silk flowers would also look nice. (Note: You could just use the project directions without the can.) I hope you have enjoyed my post and will try upcycling using the amazing TCW stencils and products. I’d love to see and/or hear about your projects!

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