3d147 – Altered Tin!

Hi all and welcome to another 3d challenge! Today we are altering an empty Altoid tin! Covering the tin with pattern paper is a little fussy, but you just have to be careful when tracing, cutting and affixing. The fun part is decorating the inside and my inspiration was a photo of my grandmother, Sara, a cherished treasure that I use often in my work. I have a little shelf in my powder room and will enjoy displaying this piece on it.

Okay, let’s begin with the tin:

I sanded off the red paint to reveal the natural tin color. Another option is to paint with Gesso over the edges and/or anyplace you want to cover up existing color as desired.

Next, gather papers, ephemera, photos, embellishments, etc. that you wish to use. This is a fun part for me as I kept two things in mind: I knew I was using my grandma’s photo and papers from October Afternoon’s Farmhouse collection.

To cover the tin, place it over the paper and trace the lid and cut out. Confirm the piece fits and use it as a pattern for the outside base of the tin. For the insides, use the same pattern piece but cut it down slightly until it fits into the insides of the tin.

Next, measure the edges and cut a narrow strip 12”x1/4” for the outside top edge and 12”x ½” for the outside bottom edge. Measure and repeat for the inside edges.  Make sure all cut pieces fit prior to affixing!

Distress all edges with Antique Linen first and Vintage Photo Distress inks second (Ranger). The narrow edge pieces are distressed with Antique Linen only. I used 1/8” Scor Tape to affix all papers to the tin. Strive to run the tape close to all edges for a good seal against the metal. The tin will look like this once pattern papers are in place:

Outside View 1 – I actually removed the lid by bending the hinge thingy so I could wrap the paper neatly.  I cut away a little notches for the paper to fit perfectly around the hinge area.  Adding ribbon will also ‘cover up’ any imperfections that might have occurred when working around the hinges.  (No one will ever know!)

Inside View 2

Front View 3

The final step is the best part designing a collage on the inside of the tin. I created the page with the photo first because I was most inspired to start there. I added glass glitter (Jenni Bowlin) around the edge of the photo. Flowers were clustered in the lower corner and top left corner (there was a big space of nothing that needed filling in). To fill in the photo, I stuffed lace motifs under the photo.

The left side of the tin was kept fairly simple with a few pieces from the October Afternoon collection along with misc. buttons, a tiny paperclip, stamped sentiment from Limited Edition and a resin bird from Webster’s Pages.

The seam binding was wrapped around the box between the lid and the bottom and tied in a bow. To get a good ribbon ‘scrunch’ mist your hands with water and scrunch the ribbon really tight. Pins were stuck into the bow for interest.  Keep in mind that this tin does not close and remains open as a display piece.

Altering a tin is so much fun and if you love this sort of ‘green’ crafting, do give it try!  I chose a vintage look, but any style will work here.  Let the papers speak to you!  If you get a chance to play, just upload your photo and tag it 3d147 so I can add it to our group album.  Post a comment to notify me you have your project uploaded.

Hugs, Lyn