The long-awaited Altoid tin tutorial

These little tins are great for altering. You can recycle old mint tins – I think Marks & Spencer and Asda sell them in the same size. Plain ones are hard to find in this country but I’m working on it!

Of course, you don’t have to find exactly the same tins – any will do. You can get smaller tins of mints in Aldi if you don’t mind working on something fiddly.

I was lucky enough to be given some plain tins by my Canadian cousin, so I’m using this plain aluminium one for this project. You can see a mint tin in the picture, too – I’m gradually scrounging these off a mint-chomping colleague who visits the States fairly frequently.

For this project you will need:
(all measurements apply to Altoid-type tins)

1. A tin for altering
2. Piece of cardstock measuring slightly larger than the top of the tin, or exactly 6cm x 9.5cm if you have a steady hand.
3. Piece of Designer Series Paper measuring 5.5cm x 9cm
4. Short length of ribbon
5. Corner rounder
6. Glue – I used Mod Podge matt finish, but ordinary PVA should be fine

7. Glue spreader or foam brush
8. Scissors
8. Stamps, ink, ribbon and scraps of cardstock to decorate

Start by spreading your glue all over the top of the tin. I use these foam brushes – I actually prefer the smaller ones which you can buy in Wilko for about 20p (in the decorating section) but couldn’t lay my hands on one.

Lay your gluey tin upside-down on to the cardstock and press firmly. Smooth it all over to make sure it’s secure. If you’ve used an oversized piece you can now simply trim off the excess carefully using scissors.

You now have a plain covered tin. Boring! So decorate it!

I decorated mine using some Designer Series paper. I cut this slightly smaller than the top of the tin and rounded the corners using the corner rounder.

To finish off, I embellished the top with gingham ribbon and the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set. I used the I used the two largest circle punches from the Stampin’ Up!® catalogue – 1¼” and 1 3/8”.  

Now then, what to put inside your tin? Well you could put some mints in it! Or any small gift. But for this tine I made a set of five small gift co-ordinating gift cards. Each one was made from a piece of 8cm x 5cm cardstock, scored down the centre.

Here’s another tin I covered – this time in cheerful Real Red. This tin is a recycled mint tin which had a red edge to the lid. But it was slightly scratched around the top edge, so I used Sticky Strip to attach red gingham ribbon around the rim, joining it at the back.

So go hunt down some mint tins and get altering!

All products by Stampin' Up! apart from Mod Podge and tin. Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.