How to Make Spool and Oil Can Photo Holders for Halloween

Today’s thrift store makeover is a little different… no paint involved!  I love buying bags of vintage spools and was thrilled to find these bright orange ones a few years ago.  Their black and white thread made them perfect for Halloween!  So I turned them into photo holders.  And scroll down to see my oil can photo holders, too!

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Supplies and Tools for Photo Holders

• vintage wooden spool or oil can
• dark annealed wire – 15-18 gauge will work well, it needs to be thick
• E6000
• assorted old rhinestones, buttons, or any other trims you want to use
• wire cutters
• marker (or something round to wrap the wire around)
• round nose pliers
• drill or Dremel

How to Make Spool and Oil Can Photo Holders

I can pretty much turn anything into a photo holder:

• vintage wooden spools
• dirty old oil cans
• children’s blocks
• salt and pepper shakers

These can be used for holding photos or cards or used as a place card holder at the dining table.  (Well… maybe not the oil can.)

I started by drilling a hole in the top of each wooden spool.

Then I made these wire loops out of dark annealed wire.

Then I dipped the straight ends into some E6000 before sticking them into the holes on top of the spools or the oil can.

I used a little more E6000 to glue a little rhinestone trim around the can.  Rusty needs a little bling! Some of the spools also got a vintage button on the front. If your spools don’t have any thread on them anymore, you could cover them with lace, scrapbook paper, or other trim scraps.

Here’s the finished product… along with my children’s block photo holders!

I first made these digital Halloween cabinet cards 8 years ago!

More DIY Halloween Crafts and Decor Ideas

If you enjoyed these Halloween craft ideas, you might also like these:

• 5 Easy Halloween Mantels
• My Vintage Thrift Store Jack O’Lantern
• Halloween Pillows and Pillow Covers Starting UNDER $10.00
• 65+ Spooky & Creative Halloween Crafts
• Easy Cheesecloth Ghosts

What was the last thing you made for Halloween?  Leave a comment and let me know!

‘Til the next spooky project,

 Ann @ Duct Tape and Denim

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Originally published October 11, 2017.