The Touchwood Project

Before I get into how to make this next Christmas gift project, I’ve been thinking about the mysterious joy that can come out of humble things. The tin can is something humble, and making this project is less about the object made, than about the experience of appreciating these small, everyday things.

For example, taking my cat Caper down to the beach this morning was a simple thing that seems to make her ridiculously happy.

Funny what it took to bring that lesson home to me.

It took reaching the brink of ruin, where the bank balance was shrinking, the bills were mounting, and I felt one of the worst feelings ever: I am a failure.

A failure as an adult, as a person

That’s the point we were at just six weeks ago.

I felt like I’d failed to be a success in business, failed to earn the money I thought I would when I went to university, failed to own a house, go on vacations or have retirement savings.

I remember we had The Talk, to figure out whether should move from Orkney to a city where we’d have more of a chance at getting so-called real jobs. Were we just being naive, irresponsible, to think we could continue spending our days doing what we wanted to do?

Malcolm and I spent hours discussing, trying to keep the fear from overwhelming us and staying focused on coming up with solutions.

We woke up the next morning and Malcolm said to me, “I think we should sell the car.”

The adventure of frugality

That touched off a chain of events that led not only to getting rid of our one and only car, but to examining every aspect of our lives, looking for ways to cut expenses and prioritise what really matters: our health, our relationship, and our belief in Touchwood and its goal of helping people to transition to a more environmentally responsible way that’s all about being happy and enjoying it.

I got Frugal Living for Dummies out of the library and read up on how to make a grocery list and comparison shop. We combed through the bills, making cuts in every area.

We decided to live during the day in kitchen where the Aga keeps it warm and not have heating on anywhere else. It’s where I’m writing this now, curled up in a cushy chair dragged from the living room.

Malcolm started planning the Power Off Weekend project, and we decided to try to make all of our Christmas gifts.

A doorway to plenty

The reason I share this with you — and you’ll be wondering what happened to my tutorial, which I promise is coming shortly — is that I’ve been…awed by the generosity, creativity and energy from people reading this blog and participating in our lives.

It’s been our new friends, Michelle and Erlend, organic farmers a few miles down the road who have offered to teach us the ropes of milking cows, shearing sheep and other farm skills we’d love to learn and haven’t a clue how to do.

It’s been the many people writing in to offer lifts into town and those who’ve stopped to pick some big bearded man with a rucksack on the side of the road and given him a lift.

Perhaps best of all, it’s been the stories from my mother and grandmother who have started sharing their own frugal tips, ways that were once everyday years ago but which have largely been put aside in recent times. These stories nourish a new kind of relationship with my family, across thousands of miles and with a very different lifestyle.

So reaching a point where I thought we had nothing, where I thought I’d failed as a grown-up, has been the means for a sense of success, for discovering a wealth of friends, resources and creativity I’ve never felt before.

I’m in the middle of that maelstrom of things happening and have no idea yet where much of it will lead, but for probably the first time in my life, I have long periods of a kind of calm, deep happiness alongside a genuine sense of bounty.

It’s that energy that motivates me to keep writing, to share with you my dorky little projects and our late night thoughts, in the hopes that you too won’t feel alone and will keep going down the road that’s uniquely your own, even when it looks crazy or like something other people might call failure.

Project: Felted Tin Can Containers

[Note: This is Part 2 of the Frugal and Green Christmas Gifts series. You can find all the projects by clicking on this tag (also on the righthand side of every page): Christmas.]

Today we’re going to use leftover pieces from our first project, the Felted Sweater Bag, to make this next project: Felted Tin Can Containers.

I wanted to create a simple container that could hold pencils or knitting needles or kitchen utensils. They could be used as a small gift for a neighbour or coworker, or even as stocking stuffers.

You could easily buy some chocolates — Ferrero Rochers or Lindt truffles would be excellent — to stuff inside.

Reusing tin cans

There are many websites out there touting cleaning and reusing your old cat food or tomato tin cans, but one of the biggest problems I’ve always had with reusing cans is it can look too unfinished for me to want to give it as a gift.

A nice solution is from CraftStylish, which uses them as herbal plant pots.

I would have done that for this post, except there weren’t any around to use.

So I had to come up with something else that hides the inside of the can, which is too industrial looking for my taste, at least as a present to someone else. By adding a simple liner, you can give it a little bit of prettiness.

Here’s how you make it.

Time to make:

1/2 – 1 hour

Materials needed:

• leftover sleeves from Felted Sweater Bag project
• empty, clean tin can
• scrap of fabric approximately 12 cm x 24 cm, or to fit your tin can
• Ferrero Rocher, Lindt or similar chocolates (I used my own Chocolate Peanut Butter Clusters)
• optional: fabric glue

Original project from:

This is a different take on Timary at CraftStylish’s Recycled Sweater and Tin Can Herb Garden. See also Re-Nest’s “10 Ways to Use Tin Cans”, which includes using them to hold your kitchen utensils or as a flower vase.

Skills needed

• How to sew a seam (see Felted Sweater Bag post for demonstration videos)

What to watch while you make this

It’s the little kind things you do that matter.

That’s one of the themes of It’s a Wonderful Life, and so while you may have seen it 20 times — or just feel like you have because it always seems to be on television — it’s a film worth seeing again to be reminded of that as you make your humble tin can project. Malcolm and I watch this every year, well up a bit, and feel rejuvenated, grateful for the little things. I hope you will too.

Getting started

Now let’s get started making something. Grab some used tin cans from your recycling. We have so many from cat food that I’m thrilled to be actually doing something with them.

Remove the labels and wash cans thoroughly.

Next, grab the sleeves left over from the Felted Sweater Bag project.

Measure the length of the can. If you don’t have a measuring tape handy, just mark the length on a scrap of paper. Add 1 cm or 1/2 inch to this measurement. My can was 11cm long, so I’m going to cut 12 cm section off the sleeve.

If you don’t give some extra length when you cut the fabric, it’ll look like my first attempt:

Check out that vastly uneven cutting job I did too. Luckily I could make 2 more from one sleeve.

You could stop here

Now at this point, you could fill it with soil and a plant. Pick up some basil or cilantro at the grocery store and call it a day. Or if you like the look of the tin, leave it.

Alternatively, add a simple liner.

Adding the fabric liner

I hunted around until I found a scrap of fabric to use. See what spare fabric you can unearth. Then measure around your tin can. Add 1 cm or 1/2 inch to length and width, then cut.

In my case, I cut out a rectangle 24 cm long by 12 cm high (11 cm height of can + 1 cm).

Now fold the rectangle in half, right sides together, so that the long ends meet and then sew a simple straight seam. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can sew this by hand.

Now insert the tube inside the tin can. Roll down the felted outside fabric half way, then fold the lining over the top of the can.

Now you can roll back up the felted outside and leave it as is, or if you want to secure it more firmly, you can add a bit of fabric glue. Malcolm’s just asked me if he can help, so I’ve sent him to go ahead and do this step.

If you don’t have any fabric glue, don’t worry about it. You could also use a rubber band. Or just leave it.

Now just add some Ferrero Rocher, Lindt chocolates or your own treats and you’re good to go!

Made this project?

Share pictures of your project here:

Sign up for our email newsletter

Like this article? Get the latest posts delivered straight to your email inbox.

Enter your email address:

Tags: Christmas, crafts, Environment, frugal

Trackback URI | Comments RSS