Sunday, December 12, 2021

Cat Food Can Ornament

 


We made ornaments for family this year out of empty Fancy Feast cans (the little ones) for a Christmas craft this year.

I haven’t seen this done too often but they are the perfect size for tiny tree-sized shadow boxes.  Here are the supplies I used:

  • Cat food cans
  • Red velvet ribbon
  • Gold gimp braid
  • Scissors
  • 48lb photo paper
  • 3x5 Thermal laminating pouches
  • An iron + pillowcase (or laminating machine)
  • Glue (hot glue and/or clear Tacky glue)
  • Glue stick
  • Glossy Mod Podge
  • Cotton balls
  • Floral greenery scraps
  • Cardboard scraps

I started by taking a picture of the kids and removing the background using Lightroom’s AI. Pretty futuristic stuff.  I printed a bunch and then cut them out.


I put the photos inside the laminate sheets, put the sheets inside a cotton pillowcase, and sealed it with a hot iron.


They came out a little bumpy but good enough.

We crushed the sharp edge of the can down with pliers. I glued the gimp braid over the crushed edge with Tacky Glue.

Charlie picked out a pretty mountain background and we printed out little circles of that and glued it to the bottom of the can.  Then coated with Mod Podge for shine and longevity.

Then I unraveled a cotton ball and glued half of it to the bottom. 


I cut some strips of cardboard and hot glued them into little rolls.  I made these small enough to hide behind the kids photo, to separate it from the background.


I hot glued these rolls to the back of the laminated photos, and glued a bit of greenery to the front.



Then I glued the other side of the cardboard to the background and glued the rest of the cotton ball snow down on top of it.


Last I glued a red velvet ribbon around the outside with a little loop at the top for a hook, and added a matching bow.