Upcycled Challenge: Toothpaste tube to coin purse #freefromtrash

If you have googled "upcycled toothpaste tube" or "toothpaste tube craft" you might be a tad disappointed with the results.  I have only seen a handful of ideas floating about cyberspace such as make a toothbrush holder, refill it with homemade toothpaste, refill it with icing for cake decorating, pen holder, and protective case for knives.  Really??  Well there were a COUPLE of really neat ideas.  One was this chandelier by Ingo Maurer and the other idea that I thought was stellar was a toothpaste tube coin purse by Grazia Bosco.  This person is apparently Italian so pretty much anything you'd want to read about this craft is in Italian.  There don't appear to be any tutorials on how to make this adorable purse (excuse me please if I am wrong!) so I thought I'd make my own.  Now, there is one tute on Terracycle but it doesn't utilize the tube spout and cap as the closure mechanism which is the whole WOW factor of using the tube in the first place.

Also Colgate has this Oral Care Brigade where you collect and send back oral care items and they upcycle or recycle them.  This sounds like something a college dorm could do successfully and you can actually BUY upcycled creations from this and other waste streams through DwellSmart.

Here goes. I only had one smallish tube to use so I didn't want to mess it up:

Materials:
Cleaned and dried Toothpaste tube with screw cap (I used a 6 inch but I recommend a bigger one!).  You can cut off the bottom edge to clean it but don't cut up the sides.
scissors
hole punch (optional)
sewing machine
hot glue

Procedure:
Cut off the very end seal of the tube if you haven't done so already (can be done at any time)
Flatten the spout down against the tube.
With the spout closest to your body, turn the tube over and fold the spout back onto the body of the tube with about a 1/2 inch margin.

Grab the end of the tube and fold it down over the spout
Ballpark where the tube hits the spout.  We need to cut a hole through the tube so that the spout can be used as the closure. Using a hole punch (if you have one large enough) or scissors, cut that hole.  I actually used the hole punch and then used scissor to make the hole slightly larger.  You can now slip the tube end onto the spout. It should be snug.

Pull the end of the tube off of the spout to finish.  Using a straight stitch (I just used the thread in my machine, nothing fancy) sew down the spout to the tube. You can also use a dab of hot glue under the spout to flatten it against the tube (I didn't do this but I think it's a good idea).

Now your purse is ready to roll.  Put in some change, fold over, and cap to close.

With such a small tube, I could only fit a small number of coins in it.  Probably better with paper money. Also it probably isn't great for every-day use.  One because you will lose the cap (unless you attach it somehow) and Two the hole is pretty snug over the spout and I fear that with repeated use it could wear down and rip. I know it's aluminum and all but it can still get damaged.  I just don't think it's a very functional piece.  Maybe if i used a bigger tube to start with I could "hem" the raw edges and put the hole farther from the cut edge it would be better.  Also it is sort of pointy and sharp.

What do you think?  Any creative ideas to make this better?

This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) hosted by Calley, The Eco Chic, and is part of a one month challenge to create from trash.  This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.  To find out more about the challenge and to see other projects click on over to Calley’s announcement post. 

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