Use A Soda Pop Tab As A Picture Hanger

I’m sure you’ve seen the pop tab picture hanger idea on Pinterest or wherever, right? Well I decided to try it out and see if it works…

And it totally did!

Use a soda pop tab to hang a picture

Remember the wedding photo frame I made? Well, unlike the store-bought frames, the one I made didn’t have any built-in way to hang the frame on the wall. So I figured it was the perfect opportunity to try the pop tab hanger idea.

It’s super simple to do, and it works really well!

You need:

  • a pop tab
  • a screw
  • a screwdriver or drill
  • whatever you want to hang up

You know how when you break a pop tab off the can, sometimes just the tab comes off and sometimes there’s a little circular welding ring still attached?

Use a soda pop tab to hang a picture

Well the original idea is that you should use a tab with that little ring still attached (on the right, above), and screw your screw in through that tiny ring. But I didn’t realize that until after I had hung up my photo, but it worked perfectly fine with a tab like the one on the left. So don’t worry about what your pop tab looks like, any type will be just fine!

Just place your pop tab on the back of your frame, centered somewhere a few inches down from the top. Screw a short screw through the smaller bottom hole of the tab and into the back of your frame.

Use a soda pop tab to hang a picture

And that’s it!

The bigger ring of the pop tab (the one without a screw through it) will fit over the head of most nails or screws, making it perfect for hanging pictures. It also keeps them close to the wall!

Ignore all the messy stuff on the back; I was practicing wood-burning. 🙂

Just a few tips:

  • Make sure your tab doesn’t slip off of the screw through the bottom hole. This is why using a pop tab with the ring still attached is useful. But if your tab doesn’t have a ring, just make sure the tab is secure by either using a screw with a large head, or by screwing it down so that the head is holding down the flat part of the tab.
  • You can bend the top of your tab away from the frame just slightly to make it easier to hang.
  • I don’t know how much weight these things are rated to hold, but I used one tab to hold up a 12″ x 14″ wooden plaque, and it’s working just fine! I imagine it can hold a lot of weight since all the weight is on the screw and all of the tension is on the tab. From my understanding of basic physics, unless the pop tab rips in half, I think it will be just fine!

I love recycling or upcycling things to make them functional again! You can check out all of my other upcycled projects here, or here’s a list of a few of my favorites:

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I link up at these awesome parties!

Jessi Wohlwend

I believe that anyone can do crafts and DIY projects, regardless of skill or experience. I love sharing simple craft ideas, step by step DIY project tutorials, cleaning hacks, and other tips and tricks all with one goal in mind: giving you the tools you need to “do it yourself”, complete fun projects, and make awesome things!

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Reader Interactions

  1. rebecca says

    12 years ago

    I just went out and bought $5 worth of picture hangers for a project I’m working on. While I was making the purchase, I thought, “Why didn’t I go to pinterest first?” I knew I had something around the house I could use! This is exactly the thing!

  2. crystal says

    12 years ago

    What a fantastic idea! Pinning this! 🙂

  3. femmefrugality says

    12 years ago

    Believe it or not, I haven’t! Good to know it works, and thanks for just solving 28% of my decorating issues!

  4. hilljean says

    12 years ago

    This is so brilliant I’m kicking myself in the pants for never thinking of it before!

  5. Susan says

    12 years ago

    I have been doing this for years..am always amazed at some of the different blogs postings when they post something I have been doing and think everyone already knows how to do that…Maybe just a midwestern thing but our schools save the poptabs and turn them in to Ronald McDonalds as a way of giving back to the community..

    • Jessi says

      12 years ago

      Growing up in CA we always saved cardboard box tops and turned them in for the Boxtops For Education program. 🙂

      And you’re so ahead of the curve! I’d never heard of hanging a picture with a pop tab, but I’m glad I found the idea because it definitely works well!

  6. Katie says

    12 years ago

    How did you know I have a whole photo frame project I’m working on for T-Rex’s room and none of the frames I bought have the wall-hanger in the right place? HOW DID YOU KNOW?

    Lol. Except we don’t drink cans of soda, so pop tabs are hard to come by. ^_^*

    • Jessi says

      12 years ago

      LOL! I have a whole jar full of them, too bad we don’t live near each other anymore. Hey btw, will you let me know if this post shows up in your email, or did show up in your email? Something has gone wrong with feedburner and it says I have 0 subscribers, which isn’t true. A quick search of the forums shows that tons of other people are having the same problem, but it looks like my posts are still showing up via RSS, so I’m hoping just the subscriber count is wrong…

      • Katie says

        12 years ago

        Your reply to my comment came through to my email, and the original post came through this morning as well. So it’s working, just pretending it’s not, I guess.

        • Jessi says

          12 years ago

          Alright, good to know! Bad for tracking my stats though…apparently it thinks it’s been at zero for three days. And it’s happening all over blogland; blogs I read that I know have upwards of 1000 subscribers are also showing 0 🙁

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