I don’t know what it is about soda cans. Well, let’s be honest, more often, it’s beer cans, but that’s not the point. The point is that I really enjoy creating and crafting with aluminum drink cans. They are so easy to transform and manipulate.

Because I make so many projects using beer and soda cans, I often have small pieces and scraps of aluminum left over.

So, in today’s project, I am going to use up some of those small pieces with the help of some precut mounting tape from Dollar Tree.

I am calling them tiny soda can tiles because that sounds better than tiny beer can tiles. And it makes a better first impression on those who don’t know me. Don’t you agree? 🙂

These tiles are so easy to make. All you need to do is remove one piece of mounting tape and stick it to the back of the aluminum.

Then, use a regular pair of scissors to trim around the mounting tape. You will be left with a colorful, sticky tile.

You can use scraps or full sheets of aluminum. I got a little addicted and made so many that I could sort my tiles by color to use for my projects.

If you need assistance with breaking down aluminum cans or flattening them into metal sheets, there are additional video resources at the bottom of this post.

Once I had the tiles made, I selected a few items from our recycling bin to decorate. I chose some plastic yogurt and sour cream containers, a tin can, and an empty box, and I even used the cardboard tube from the mounting tape roll.

To attach the tiles, just remove the paper from the tape and place the tile on your project. You want to be careful with your placement because the tape is very sticky and it can be difficult to adjust or move the tiles once the tape has made contact with the surface of your project.

You can place the tiles tightly together as I did on this paper tube.

Or you can place them more loosely, as I did on this yogurt container.

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To finish the edges of my projects, I used metal tape, air-dried clay, and silver dimensional paint.

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The metal tape works best for finishing the corners and edges of your projects.

While the dimensional paint is suitable for finishing your tightly fit tiles.

The air dry clay is best for tiles that have more space between them.

This process is a little messier, but it looks more like actual tiles with grout lines. I start by pressing a small amount of clay between the tiles and then carefully spread the clay out with my fingers to fill all the gaps and spaces between the tiles.

Once I have the clay pressed firmly between several tiles, I clean off the aluminum portion with a damp sponge.

To seal the clay, I brushed on a coat of high gloss Mod Podge, but you can use any type of sealing product.

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I still have a lot of tiles left, but here’s what I have made so far.

• Three little catch-all bowls from yogurt containers
• A tin can to hold my hot glue sticks
• Napkin rings made from the mounting tape tubes
• A picture frame refrigerator magnet
• A pretty reusable box
• And a pot for planting

I hope you enjoyed today’s quick project tutorial and are inspired to make some tiny tile projects of your own.

Happy Upcycling,

Cindy

Watch this video to learn how I break down aluminum beer and soda cans into the four parts I use most often.

To learn three different methods for flattening aluminum cans, watch this video.