THE MAKING OF AN ALTERED TIN

This past week I altered some heart shaped tins to put in my Etsy Shop for Valentine's Day.

As promised I tried to take photos as I went (glue on fingers and all) to show you the process.

Preparing to alter. I need wax paper or something to protect my granite top desk, Gesso, Modge Podge to glue and seal with and a jar of water to soak my brushes, oh and lots of paper towels to clean up and dry the brush before using it.

First of all I have to primer with Gesso so that things will stick to the tin.
This my first step. Then I wait for about 30 minute for the Gesso to dry.

I usually do all of the tins I plan to use at the same time.
In this case I altered 4 mini tins also.


I use the primer on all areas I am going to cover with paper.
While the primer is drying I choose which paper I will want to use and then start cutting the pattern out. I just trace around the tin for top, bottom and sides and then cut out all the pieces.

I also cut thicker card stock paper to place on both sides
of the lid to help cover the word "Altoid"



Once I have glued all the paper in place I then seal the paper with the same Modge Podge.


While I am waiting for this to dry I try to choose what design I want and what I will use to embellish the tin.

I usually always cover the inside of the tins.
In this photo you see regular card stock with glitter. These were for the mini tins. I did not cover the inside of the heart shaped boxes

By this time, no matter how hard I try, my desk is a disaster!
boxes, paper, scissors, glue, trim, etc etc etc. It gets pretty scary for awhile!

Once I have decided how I want to embellish my tin I cut the pieces to fit and get out my favorite tacky glue !

Here is the finished product and it only took me all day!
NO really, it usually only takes about an hour if I have no interruptions or lunch breaks for my hubby or potty breaks for my doggies.

The following are all the tins I created in one whole day.
Whew!
Oh, and I am working on a Steampunk Heart Tin today