Aluminium Ornaments

What you need: Empty aluminum beverage cans Scissors Sandpaper (sanding block is helpful but not necessary, or wrap sandpaper around a bit of wood) Pen or pencil Ribbon or cord for hanging 1. Start with an aluminum drink can.

2. Cut off the top and bottom with scissors. (Wear gloves and glasses to be extra safe.) A knife is good to make the first cut so you can get your scissors in there. Cut down the sideif you havent done so already to get the top and bottom offand flatten it out.

3. Trace your object. I like leaves, but you could use a drawing or just freehand it. (Snowflakes? Fruit? Use your imagination.) Bear down with your pencil or ballpoint or other pointy thing so you make a cutting line.

4. Cut along the lines. Be careful. Cut aluminum is sharp.

5. With your pointy thing and using your object as a reference, whether it is a leaf like mine or what-have-you, emboss your cut-out with veins, other details, etc. Take a nail and make a hole for hanging the ornament. 6. Sand the piece to remove any burrs and other hazards and to give it a nice pewtery surface. A sanding block or its equivalent is handy for this. I sanded the front and back. If you prefer, you can sand the color off entirely, but I left it for a distressed look. The veins or other details are emphasized by the sanding so you want to make sure you emboss before you sand for this effect. 7. Add a ribbon, cord, or a length of raffia to hang it up. Thats it.

Altoid Safety Box

Materials Small, empty metal box, such as the kind Altoids mints come in Paper Adhesive-backed magnetic sheet Colored pencils or markers Instructions

Trace the top of the tin onto both the paper and the magnetic sheet, then draw and color a design on the paper.

Cut out both shapes, remove the backing from the magnet, and stick the drawing to it. Set the decorated magnet on the top of the tin, then fill the tin with all those very important things.

Spaceship
What you'll need: Styrofoam carryout boxes (clean, of course) Old CDs (be sure to ask first) Aluminum foil Old hub caps Tin cans (clean) Tacky glue or silver duct tape Wire, optional Wire cutters, optional String or fishing line Scissors Markers How to make it: 1. Use CDs to build the base of the space ship on (shiny side out). 2. Use glue or use duct tape to adhere the pieces together. Use aluminum foil if you want a shiny ship. 3. Use any supplies that you find, just be sure to have an adult present for safety. 4. Decorate with markers if desired. 5. Hang with string or fishing line.

Altered Altoid Tin

1. Spray the entire outside of the tin with a metal spray paint primer. It will be a nice white color. You can then paint or spray paint over that but I just left mine primered. I just wanted to get rid of the red color on the top.

2. Trace around the top of the tin and cut that shape out 4 times out of cardstock. I inked the edges of mine as well. I used white glue and decoupaged the paper on the top and bottom of tin and in the inside lid and bottom lid. I cut off any excess on the top and bottom of the tin.

3. I then used coordinating paper and cut it a little smaller than the last piece and glued that on top of the cardstock on the bottom and top of the tin. I also decoupraged over the top of the paper to really secure it.

4. Then I cut 1 cm of coordinating striped paper and glued that around the side of the tin. I also embellished the top by ripping a brown piece of paper and hole punching a circle. I inked the circle and stamped a Z on it for Zackary. I glued both of those on and decoupaged the top of those as well.

5. I then made an accordian out of brown paper. It measures 3 1/2 x 12. I scored and folded every 2 inches. I also rounded the corners. I was planning on scrapbooking those with pictures but then I rememebered who I was making this for my 15 year old nephew who would not care about that.

6. So I thought I would use the accordian to tape his Target gift card to and use it to kind of pop the gift certificate out when he opened the tin. So that is what I did. I glued the accordian to the bottom of the tin and put a small piece of double sided tape on the gift card and taped it to the top of accordian.

7. Then I just wrote a sentiment on a piece of paper and put a small piece of doublesided tape and taped it to the inside top of the tin. I used a small piece so it can be removed and then tin can be reused. I also punched out an extra circle so my sister can remove the Z on the front and reuse if she wishes. I put those in the very bottom of the tin.

Backyard Melody Maker

Materials 1/2- by 4-inch threaded eyebolt Teflon (plumber's) tape 1/2-inch coupling nut 1/2-inch all-thread rod, 24 or 36 inches long 10 to 15 1/2-inch washers 1/2-inch locknut Rope or cord Instructions 1. To prevent the metal pieces from unscrewing over time, wrap a piece of Teflon tape around the end of the eyebolt and both ends of the rod. 2. Starting at the top, assemble the pieces as shown here. Finish by sliding the washers onto the rod, then threading on the locknut. 3. Hang the rod with a rope or cord.