Creative Mom Cafe

This isn’t a project you will want to do with younger children, but it is still a fun St. Patrick’s day craft idea.

Many people have seen the fun necklaces and earrings made from soda cans. Shapes, usually hearts, are cut from the cans and strung onto chains or hung on ear hooks to make interesting recycled jewelry. I have always thought these were cool pieces of jewelry, and have also secretly wanted a Mountain Dew heart necklace to show my love for the beverage that keeps me going. This weekend I decided instead of a heart I could use the green can to make a fun four leaf clover. So that’s just what I did.

I just used an ordinary Mountain Dew can out of the recycling box. Washed it out completely and set it out to dry. Once the can was dry I had to open it up. I used sharp scissors to cut a line going down the back of the can, across the Nutrition Facts, from the opening to the bottom. It helps if you can use a can that hasn’t been crushed yet, but unfortunately I didn’t have one. Once I had the straight line going down I cut from there across the top and the bottom removing both. When I was done I only had a long sheet of metal from the center of the can, with the top and bottom rims set to the side.

On the sheet of metal i picked a spot that I wanted my four leaf clover to be cut from then drew on the back side of the can my four leaf clover. I’m not a good artist, but for a free hand image it wasn’t too bad. Some people prefer to draw on the front of the can to make sure they will be cutting out exactly where they want to. Because I know my drawings will be full of mistakes and new lines I prefer to use the back where once cut all the mistakes will be hidden from site.

Then I use used my scissors again to cut out the four leaf clover. To hang it on my chain I used a small hole punch to put a hole in one leaf of the clover then hung that on loop. I will say right now that because the metal is so thin it slipped off the loop very easily. Using a small eyelet will work to stop that, though you will have to make the hole much smaller. I was working with what I had at the time. The edges are also very sharp so you will want to do something so as not to cut yourself while wearing it. Many people use a thin layer of foam glued to the back to keep the edges off of you and to make the jewelry more comfortable to wear.

There you go, a fun and funky St. Patrick’s day craft. Recycled and cheap even!

jewelry, St. Patrick’s day, crafts, soda can jewelry, soda can, Mountain Dew