Paint to Pencil Cans!

I was so inspired by all the adorable pencil cans on Pinterest that I thought I would try some of my own.  I thought about using soup cans but decided I wanted something a little wider.  I went hunting through the recycling and around the house and came across all the old paint cans under the basement stairs.  I thought the quart size would be perfect for my project!  I looked for the two that had the least amount of paint in them and settled on these. Emmitt looks thrilled about this project, doesn't he?

The first thing I had to do was clean them out, and that was no easy task!  I rinsed them out several times and them let them sit and soak for a while.  In the meantime I gathered my materials.  

I'm in love with polka dots right now, so I thought I would use my favorite designer polka-dotted duct tape.  The polka dots are clear, so I got yellow spray paint to spray the can. That way my polka dots would be yellow.  I found a scrap of felt to put in the bottom of the can to muffle the sound of pencils being dropped in (I do love a quiet classroom!), polka dotted ribbon as trim, primer, black duct tape to line the inside of the can (I couldn't get all the paint off, and my OCD wouldn't allow it to stay that way!), and my print-out of "sharp" and "dull" with my new favorite font.  

After cleaning the cans as best I could, I primed them, then painted them.  I let them dry overnight and then began putting the black duct tape on the inside.  I would simply cut a strip about 8 inches long and put it inside starting at the bottom of the can, working my way up to the top.  I folded it over the top and cut it leaving just a little bit over the edge.

  I traced the can on my scrap of felt and cut it out to place inside at the bottom.

Next, I put on the polka dot duct tape, starting at the bottom, going around horizontally, and working my way up to the top.  Then I used a hot glue gun to put the orange ribbon around the top and bottom of the can and used clear packing tape to adhere the labels to the outside.  Aren't they cute?!

Check out all the other Manic Monday freebies at Classroom Freebies!  

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