Soda Can, Vintage Number Labels
- By Joan
- March 24, 2016
- 34 Comments
Sometimes when you think you’re finished a project, you find you’re missing just one thing.
If you missed my post from Monday this week, I shared with you how to make this great organizer shelf using pallet wood, nails and glue.
I had no sooner completed my shelf, when I found this shelf over at Pottery Barn for the low low price of $166. If you don’t include glue and nails, mine was FREE. I love free!
What Pottery Barn’s shelf had, that mine didn’t, was numbers. Well, now I had to have numbers too.
My plan was to print out numbers on clear address labels and affix them to a soda can.
That was the plan. Me trying to line up my numbers and ovals so that they fit on my 30 to a sheet, address labels was not going quite as planned.
Teenage son finally stepped in claiming that my efforts were rather painful to watch. What would have taken me a couple of hours, took him 5 minutes. Since he kicked me off my computer, there was nothing better for me to do, than to take a picture of him hard at work.
So, if you need any computer work done, find a teenager. Thanks Nathan.
This is what he ended up with. The font is Mom’s Typewriter and nicely spaced columns and numbers that printed out perfectly on my Avery clear address labels.
I washed out a soda can. It was extremely easy to cut off the top and bottom of the can with simple household scissors.
All those numbers and I only needed one can. While the labels are clear, they are more of an opaque kind of clear, they don’t quite let the shininess of the can shine through.
Cut out each of the numbers leaving a bit of a gap around the outside of the oval.
By scratching off some of the labels opaque finish with a screwdriver, I was able to see a bit of the shiny metal shining through.
Finished my “vintage” numbers with a bit of tinted wax dabbed on with a Q-tip. The wax is the same wax I use with chalk paint.
If you get too much wax on, it’s fairly easy to scratch back off.
The numbers were attached to the cubby shelves with a couple of tacks.
The shelves were all ready for decorating and oh, the possibilities. How about a bottle collection?
Or sports memorabilia?
I’m always amazed when a plan actually works and even up close, they really do look old.
OK, now I think I’m really done, but I do have 9 more pages of address labels. Hmmm, what else can I put a vintage label on?
Update: Since this post, I couldn’t let my sheets of address labels go to waste so I tried the same technique with words. You can get another free download here by just checking out my IKEA cabinet project.
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I think this idea is genius! I love the way they look attached to the cubbies. You’d never know what they were made of. I have to try this.
I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is. Good Luck
What a fantastic and creative idea!! Kudos to you! Definitely a pinner 🙂
Super vintage looking. Just too clever girl
What a great idea and tutorial. I am definately pinning this for reference for future projects I can see so many possibilities. I love your creativity with junk.
Joan,
The number tags are the perfect touch to finish off your cubby shelf! Happy you had a teenager to cut down on your time to get the labels printed.
gail
You have your computer people and I have mine. 🙂
Wow, you are a genius!! I love what you did and free to boot! Great job, love it!!
Always admire your creativity and projects. Had to comment about the computer skills of our children just putting us to shame. It’s so, so true, they can do something in a flash that boggles my old mind.
Okay, that is seriously genius! I ran into the same problem in February finding number plates to fit my vintage cubby and I ended up hand painting them. Like that’s never going to happen again after seeing this! Pinning to refer back to.
It seems like we’re all working on the same problem. We’d be dangerous if we put out heads together.
Soda cans are really versatile. I use them to make earrings. The Monster energy drinks come in red, orange, yellow, blue and white. They have an etched design, each can is different. I think the white can would be pretty cool with a project like this. Awesome. Thanks for showing us how this project works and especially the font! I spend HOURS looking at fonts.
Lisa, I’d love to see your earring ideas from soda cans!
What a fun project! I’ll be making some too! Thank you for the tutorial.
Visiting from Amaze Me Monday.
Have a great day.
Pam
Great tutorial! Never would’ve thought of using a soda can like this. Visiting from Talk of the Town party.
It just amazes me what bloggers come up with…this is a fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing.
I did chuckle about asking a teenager anything that has to do with computers (or graphics)…they are geniuses!
Have a great week.
Aaah, you and Nathan are genius!! Love those labels soooo much!! And the q-tip trick is awesome too!
I would love to invite you to share it with us at the party I co-host every Tuesday on my blog. Have a wonderful week!!
Stopping by again to let you know this is my feature on next week’s party, congratulations! Don’t forget to stop by and grab your button!
Enjoy your week!
Thanks Pili, looking forward to the party.
Oh man. the numbers make this perfect. thanks for the info.
Oh my goodness!!!! You are a genius!! I love this! I saved your maple can lanterns a long time ago in my favorites and just recently discovered them again, thus discovering your website and am super stoked to check out all your projects and get on your mailing list!!!
I recently made a coffee cup cubbie that looks a lot like your cubbie! But I had to use 1/4 inch poplar cause it needed to fit in a specific spot but I so wish I had room on the edges for these numbers! But I guess I’m just going to have to make another one!!! With some old pallets! Thanks for your inspiration and the joy it is to my heart to check out all your projects! I so admire fellow crafters who actually are organized enough to post their projects with directions and info! Thanks!!!
So glad you found me again, those maple syrup cans seem like so long ago. Don’t make it so long next time. 🙂
This is such a cool project!! Love it! Thanks for sharing at Dishing It & Digging It! 🙂
What a great idea. Thanks for sharing it!
You are brilliant! This is awesome. Thanks for sharing it at Talk of the Town – I’m pinning it to the party board!
At what website did you find the numbers
Right here. Using the font Mom’s typewriter and an oval shape we typed the numbers into a word processing program ourselves.
Love the labels…is there some way I can print them out. or did I miss something.
Did you try saving the picture with the numbers and ovals? You’ll have to print them out on your own clear labels.
Thank you for responding so quickly. Once I read the post I realized I could copy and paste into Word and print it on the labels…duh.
Thanks again, Ellen
What a brilliant project! Pottery Barn eat your heart out!
Love! Once again you amaze the world with your creativity! I’m featuring your labels in this weeks DIY Sunday Showcase. Brilliant idea! BTW- Isn’t it great to have a teen around for IT help? LOL
[…] Wendi’s favorite soda can vintage number labels. […]
Hi, Joanne! Visiting you again to invite you to share this with us at our new Sweet Inspiration party, http://sweethings.net/sweet-inspiration-link-party1/
Hugs!