Because I know you need another reason to get a Cuttlebug ...

Three posts in one day? What am I thinking?! Well, I just noticed all the pictures I have sitting here to share on my blog, and I'm really excited about a few things I've accomplished today, so I can't keep quiet right now ...

I think you get the idea that I love my new 'Bug, right? Well, check out my newest recycling project, thanks to this lovely machine:

Yes, you saw that right. I'm recycling soft drink cans! My husband thinks I've really gone off the deep end now. I'm sure he's envisioning drowning in a sea of embossed cardboard and soda cans. :)

I'm pretty sure I got the idea at Splitcoaststampers, somewhere on their Cuttlebug FAQ thread. Here is what I've done with it so far (no cards yet, but I'm going to play around with it soon):

Soda cans are flexible enough to make good cut-outs and embossed panels. The only thing to keep in mind: If you want to emboss and die cut a piece, be sure to die cut first. The embossing makes it that much thicker and for some reason my machine didn't want to cut it as easily after embossing. But look at the metal embellishments I got out of a soda can (there are 10 of those square pieces in the top right):

I noticed that the squares on the right tend to stay together as one piece, instead of having all the little pieces cut out of them. I think the metal might be a little too thick for that much detail. That's okay with me because they make a neat embellishment that way, almost as if it embossed and cut at the same time. Your machine might make all the cuts, though, since they say each machine is a little different in the spacing of the rollers.

Now go back to that second picture for a minute. See the gold-colored metal pieces? Those are from a can of mushrooms. The next time you open a can, check to see how thick the metal is (you want the thinner ones). This one didn't have those circles going around it (look inside a vegetable can sometime if you don't know what I'm talking about), and it was flexible enough to cut. It's a little thicker than the soda can, but I've read that many people have done the same thing with tomato paste cans, which are made out of about the same thing.

Now I'm sure you're wondering how to get this metal without cutting yourself to pieces, right? My husband came to my rescue with his utility knife. I used it to cut the top off the soda can, then used heavy-duty scissors to cut down the middle and cut off the bottom. Discard the top and bottom of the can, but be careful because there will be a few sharp edges. I just used the heavy-duty scissors for the mushroom can. For the sharp edges, I've read that some people use nail files. (I didn't need to since my edges weren't that bad.)