1) my dad has all these coffee cans laying around not doing any good an dI was wondering what I could do with them besides just using them for storage? Or, how could I use them for storage but spiffy them up a bit?

And, whats something cute I can make using LEGOS? I thought about a picture frame but wasnt sure how to go about it. (My b-f is an 18 year old LEGO freak [go figure] and i wanted to make something for him that will be kinda personalized)

Check out craftygal.com archives for the best way to pierce metal cans. She fills them with water and freezes them, then pounds away with a hammer and nail to create a design. This way all the rough edges are inside, too. Then you can spray paint them and use them as luminaria at Christmas or any time, store potpourri in them, or other things that aren't too tiny and won't get damaged by the sharp edges.

You could wrap them with bamboo or rattan place mats and raffia bow them on with a spot of glue.

Or cover em in fake fur. Sort your hair stuff and odd bits from your dresser or vanity.

i have this mexican arts & crafts book at home (that i'll post the title of when i get home), and they have some neat things to do with tin cans- similar to the previous post's suggestions with the ice & holes. so i'll get you that when i get home. besides that, it's go great Day of the Dead projects.

it's called Indo-Hispanic Folk Art Traditions II, by Bobbi Salinas. i'm sure a library would have it. it's great.

as for legos...

I've always wanted to make something using legos & gluing them together. A picture frame would work. Or build a box or dish, maybe even with a lid. Or a tall vase (a regular glass vase could fit inside), or smaller votive candle holders (leave some spaces/holes to see light through). These don;t really sound like "boyfriend" ideas, though.

My dream project is to build a giant table out of legos. For support, maybe find a table with skinny legs & build around the legs & just on top of the table, and keep a big container of "free" legos nearby so that you could build with them directly onto your coffee table. The actual design plan for this table gets very extravagent & complicated in my mind, complete with a recessed built in compartment for the free legos, and maybe a sheet of glass for on top, so you could safely set a drink on the surface of all those lego-nubbies.....did I mention that we were very drunk when we dreamed this up? I can't guarantee that this would work!

i know this kid who was obsessed with legos, and he built legostock. this full out concert with lego nirvana and a whole audience and crowdsurfers and everything. i never witnessed this, but i hear it was huge and impressive. he may have some lego secrets up his sleeve. email if you want to contact him.

the lego coffee table is the best. i want one...

i was going to suggest something similar for the frame... you could permanently (very permanently) affix some of the lego to a cheap frame, and then have some pieces loose, so that he could add to the frame if he wants. some of the pieces should face up, some out, some on the sides, etc. just be sure to take balance into account.

off topic - i sat beside a Lego rep on a plane once. she travels around the country and sets up huge larger than life-size displays of lego in stores, museums etc. she admitted that she wasn't responsible for designing them. apparently, there is a lego army plotting new ways to build humongous lego displays. that sounds like a dream job for your boyfriend!

i like the idea of a candle holder for the legos. you can use the little um.....what are they called....crap you know the little candles in the silver holders so, that the legos won't get all waxy.

the coffee cans are good to use as lanterns...pierce them .
i have a friend that cut the bottoms off of coffe cans and used them as spotlights all over the base of her walls...it was cool.

You could make a little cubby-station. We used to have one in my kindergarten class that was really kind of cool. Turn the coffee cans on their sides and place them in a row so that it looks like this from the front:
OOOO
Fasten them together somehow - one interesting way would be to weave three ribbons around the cans (look at a Jacob's Ladder toy to see what I mean) or do it the way my kindergarten teacher did, and make a wooden frame. Like a bookshelf without the shelves. Then just place the cans inside the frame in a row - a little hot glue between cans might be a good idea.
Now, just add another row on top. You could do a couple of different things with it,
00000 or 0 or 00 00
00000 000 0000000
00000 00000 00000
00000 0000000 000
00000 000000000 0
if you're really
handy with the
frame.
suggestions: paint the cans before you try to assemble the cubbies - glitter would be nifty!
you could put pictures in the bottoms of the cans, photos, or drawings, or magazine clippings
I'll bet you could punch holes in the cans, too, like somebody said above, and you could fasten them together that way, with string through the holes.

Oops. That gigantic blob of O's in there was supposed to be (respectively) a square, a pyramid, and a heart. (Which is where I said, "or a (heart), if you're really good with the framemaking" or something to that effect.)

hehe. thank you SOOOOO much, because I now know what i'm making my boyfriend for valentines day. and to tell you the truth, i don't think boys EVER grow out of the lego stage. ^_^

(aside: for those of you familiar with jones soda, the nummy soda with a different picture on every label.. i'm going to make my own label on the computer, and put it on a bottle for him. i'm going to take a picture of he and i, and change the part that says "blue bubble gum" to say something like "blue, i love you" or something.. his nick name is blue, coincedentally, and it's also his favorite flavour, so it works out well. ^_^)

I use empty coffee cans to keep my yarn organized--I get the kind of yarn that comes in 50g hanks and has to be wound into a ball. I cut a hole in the lid of the can and feed the end of the yarn through. This keeps the yarn from rolling away and/or getting covered with lint and cat hair.

--lynda