Crafty Milk Can

 I have news! We are moving to a new Apartment! The husband wants to be closer to his job. This means time to clean out the closets! My biggest motivation is the reality that the new apartment will be so much smaller. This relocation has me frantically trying to reduce the amount of crafty project pile up.
The Milk Can I have been stock piling these cans for about half, if not more of BABY BEE'S life.The plan was to turn these food safe containers into cute Carmel corn, cookie, brownie, macaroon, tea, candy,(I think you get the idea) gift containers. Why did I wait so long to do this??? I don't know, it seemed like a process that would take a lot of time. It is was way easier to toss this idea in the closet than actually do it.

 Step One Remove the old label. I used my Cutter Bee craft knife, but a sharp tip kitchen knife or scissors should also do the trick. The goal is to make a strait cut then lift the label with minimal damage. You will use this paper as a template to measure the exact size of a new label. Don't worry about lifting a bit off the side of the container, you will cover the evidence so it doesn't matter, unless for some odd reason you make a whole in the side....(this shouldn't happen).
Step Two Clean out all milk powder residue. I refrained from water use. The container is coated with a water resistant paper, but I didn't want to test it so much. A good wipe removed the little bits of powder especially around the top metal lip that remained. I did wash the plastic lid with warm soapy water. Make sure to dry very well.
Step Three Find suitable paper. I used two gift bags and wrapping paper. Stiff gift bags cause more trouble when gluing to the container. Note when using gift bags: Disassemble the gift bag and make a flat surface so you can see how to maximize the paper and avoid any wrinkled spots. One other thing to consider, if your paper has a pattern make sure to notice what direction it is going
Step Four Time to glue.  Wrap the container being aware of the edges. One of my labels went a bit crooked, because I didn't pay attention to this point. I had to cut a whole new label. When your ends meet make a line of glue on the container itself and attach the lower paper then apply a second layer of glue on the paper, but not on top of the exact location your first glue line. Make sure your paper is pulled tight around the entire container, then lay it over the adhesive and smooth to finish. I used a hot glue gun to secure the paper, but it did get a bit hot on my fingers. Paste or glue stick could also work

The Finishing Touch. This is the part that I like the most, giving a bit of personality to your gift container. You can glue as little or as much as you want I started out with an information card. This can have a special message, recipe, or simply a To & From. Other ideas for embellishments are stickers, ribbons, scrapbook embellishments, faux flowers, strands of beads or pearls, small toys even hard candy. This decorated can was made for my Grandma's birthday. One of the hardest things to do is finding a gift for her. The woman who has it all.   When I visited my mom last Wednesday we had to think of something fast the big day was Friday. In the end we agreed food was the best option. Since my Grandma loves her coffee we decided to make coffee cake and cut it into round to fit inside the tin.

 The tin fit 3 cakes. The concern was how to separate the rounds of cake. The answer was easy. My mom divided each layer with parchment paper then placed a cake round individually in the center of a coffee filter. Sorry, no pictures. I am sure it looked cute. I wasn't around when the actual baking happened (Thursday) and someone.....forgot of photo log it. Anyway. The gift was delivered that evening. Friday morning Grandma had an extra special morning coffee.