LITTLE TIN BOXES--A CRAFT TO DO

Yesterday was one of those days, and I mean that in the best way possible. I needed to make something. Really, really needed to put my head, heart, and hands into an art or craft project. Does that kind of craving ever hit you?

Luckily, Kimbuktu, on her wonderful blog, was ready with the answer to Well, what are you gonna do then? I took her instructions on making a tiny coin purse from an Altoids tin, and ran with them. Thank you, Kim!

So, if you'd like to do this, too, here's what you'll need:

• Empty tins. Altoids are great, but others work well, too.
• Paints
• Protective coating or decoupage medium
• Stickers
• Magazines, books, pictures, etc.
• Doo-dads (That's the technical name for those little bits of this and that like tinsel or buttons or beads or broken jewelry or the like.)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Tape

I started by selecting several tins I wanted to play with, and painting them. I figured a basic cream color would work well. I had the bright idea of making a color copy of the tins, to use for templates, but ended up using the tins themselves. Well, some things seem like better ideas than they are, I guess!





It took several coats of paint to cover the tins, and after I'd painted them I put on a protective coat of clear. While each coat dried, I flipped through old magazines and sheet music, a book or two....

You can use the original images and words cut straight from your source materials, or copy them, if you have a scanner/printer. The magazine and music I used the originals. The little girl and the elf riding a frog were in an old children's book, and I couldn't bring myself to lay the scissors to them, so I copied what I wanted onto some thick, creamy, textured paper acquired at an estate sale.

The Altoids tin was my first project:



The Value of Enthusiam


Then one using a Celestial Seasonings tin:



Dive Right In!


Then one using a bitty little Starbucks mint tin, that opens at the top:



A Coffee Hallelujah


And last, and probably my favorite, a barn-shaped tin a little magnetized toy had come in:



Little


On that one, I've done the back and inside, too. The others are waiting for that step. The back:



Wee Folk, Good Folk


And the inside:




Kimbuktu's tin has handles, which I haven't done. Yet. I'm thinking of a wire-wrapped bead handle, but that's going to have to wait for later today or else tomorrow.

When I'd finished the little collages, I protected them, with decoupage medium for the magazine pictures, but the "Little" tin, it was small enough to cover with wide packing tape, and I opted for that. My copier is an inkjet, and I didn't want to risk the ink running when I brushed a liquid coating on.

The edges of the tins, which I haven't shown here, I covered with strip stickers meant to be used as scrapbooking borders, which gave a nice finished look.

Are you ready to make yours? I'd love to see the results, if you do!