Time for snow... and tincanmen.

I’m a big fan of using what you have to make cute stuff.  I am in no way an expert in the subject of “trash to treasure” (not like Michele from Michele Made Me, you should totally check out her stuff...) BUT I still enjoy recycling stuff I’d normally toss into crafty things.  

AND, nothing says winter like a cute little snowman.  At the time I started making some tin can men for my front porch, there was no snow in sight, which was weird for this time of year.  It appeared my tin can men would be the only “snowy” things around at Thanksgiving...

To make your own tin can man, you need:
three cans of decreasing size per man (to make the melty man, you’ll need some white poster board too)
E6000
white spray paint
black craft paint
black buttons
red and green buttons
red and green felt
orange felt

First, de-label your cans and wash them thoroughly.  Nothing like some caked on beans to make your snowmen much too smelly.

Stack your cans upside down, smaller on top of larger, to get an idea of the layout for each snowman.  I wanted to use my tune can, but it wasn’t really working with the other snowmen, so I decided to make a partially “melty man.”

Use E6000 to draw a ring of glue around the bottom if the larger can so that the next smaller size sits right on the glue ring.  

Do this for the next can as well. 

 

Stack a heavy book on top to really smoosh everything together.  I went with the typical world encyclopedia.  Because they’re so old, they aren’t much good for anything else at this point.  

 

Do this for each man.

 For the melty man, cut out a “puddle” shape from the poster board.  Ring the tuna can with E6000 and stick it to the poster board.

The melty man’s hat is a juice jug lid.  Use E6000 to adhere it to the tuna can.

After waiting 24 hours to make sure the glue is good and dry, spray paint your tin can men white.

 

It was in the midst of this step that I came to the sad realization that my spray painting days are over - at least for the season.  That’s right, spray painting season has come to a close.  Did you know you aren’t supposed to spray paint in temperatures under 50 degrees?  I won’t be spray painting again until May.

When the spray paint is dry, take them inside where it’s warm.  Good thing is, these snowman won’t melt.

Using **hot glue, adhere black buttons for a smile and eyes.

 

(**OK, I realize there might be a better choice than hot glue, like maybe E6000 again, but I was impatient and wanted it done RIGHT NOW, so I used hot glue.  And fortunately, it seems to be holding up just fine.  Phew.)

Adhere green and red buttons for the clothes.

Now take a strip of orange felt, about two-three inches wide, 

 

and roll it up.

Use hot glue to adhere it to the face for a carrot nose.

Now, create some scarves out of green and red felt.  Cut two strips of felt the same color about three inches wide. 

Cut some fringe in two ends,

 

then glue the two strips together at the ends that aren’t cut into fringe.

 

If you have some extra long felt, you don’t need two strips... my felt was short so I had to glue pieces together to make it long enough to go around the cans.

Now, simply glue it right onto the snowman where you want it to be.

You can cross the ends over each other and glue in place, or knot it if it’s long enough.

Now paint your top hat black with craft paint.  

For your melty man, simply glue everything on willy-nilly.

Set them up outside,

Just in time to usher in the first real snow of the season!