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| Postal Themed Altered Altoid Tins Finally!!! I have been making these tins for a while now and couldn't show them since the majority of them went for Christmas presents.... They are such fun to make and even more fun to fill up. One arty blurred shot and one sharper.. |
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| What tiny treasures can you put inside? Mini stapler and tiny scissors, postage stamps, small rolls of washi tape, address labels, small rubber stamps, buttons for crafting, sewing kit..... What can you think of? |
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| All packed up and ready to go! |
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| Of course I had to make a few for myself too...I have all kinds of things stored inside mine. |
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| Besides the postal theme I go on a bird theme as well.... |
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| You have to decorate the bottoms of the tins too....no surface left untouched. |
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| Some stamp bundles packed into this one. I'd like to get this so I hope my pal Polly liked receiving it......I mean, really? Who wouldn't love a postal themed tin with bundles of stamps inside? |
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| All you need are empty tins, like Altoid tins, and some cool paper and washi tape and glue....I used matte gel medium..... |
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| I'm not the first to alter Altoid tins. In fact, my pal Dori is the one who started me thinking about doing it. She has sent me several that I absolutely love. I have one that she made me filled with earrings. I won't put a tutorial on here because tutorials are out there all over the place. Check Pinterest. I found doing a few at a time with the same theme worked best for me. It is much slower just doing one at a time. I found old Altoid tins at ScrapSF without that embossed top that the new ones have have. And Trader Joe's mints have good tins too. If you really want a tutorial I will do it but I think you can figure it out.... So, there you go, now it's your turn. What will you put inside?  And you are wondering who won the 2017 planner? (drum roll, please) MISS IOWA Congrats to Miss Iowa. Please send me your mailing address via the Blogger Contact Form or in a comment) I won't publish it. I may be making some more notebooks to give away so stay tuned. Thanks for all the comments and good wishes and for the suggestions on what you might like to see on the blog.I've been blogging less and posting on IG more because it seems there is more response to IG but I enjoy blogging and would like to continue if there is the interest. Happy Holidays to all of you out there and thank you for all your lovely comments and good wishes and good mail throughout 2016. SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL |
Oh my - I have a drawer full of old tins just waiting to be arted up! Where did you get the "postal" washi tape - very cool. Thanks for sharing the ideas...
ReplyDeleteHi Jewels -- now you have a project! Tim Holtz had a pack of postal washi tape I got and the air mail washi is easy to find.....
Deletemorning pamela:: love evidence of yr hand/heart in whatever guise. esp, of course, when it appears in my mailbox! ;) lucky miss iowa!!! you know how i love little cubbies & these tins are divine. mine is a new treasure! so many lovely treasures to squirrel away! please keep making & keep posting/sharing. it always brings a deep swoon & a smile. xo, p
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, miss polly -- You have always been very encouraging and I appreciate it.
DeleteWow, I love those tins! I have to look for something similar here to try it myself. I love IG but you can't really put tutorials there, so I will always check your blog too.
ReplyDeleteI agree -- I love IG too but you can only put one photo and sometimes you do just need more, right? I'm sure you can find some tins to alter. Don't you have Altoid tins/mints? They are from the UK but we can get them here -- and you are closer!
DeleteThose are great - think I like the bird ones best. Just used up all my spare tins organizing my sewing box (so many pins!) but will put out a call to friends for more. Altered one for a swap once but never got around to doing more. Maybe this will inspire me.
ReplyDeleteI guess you are just going to have to eat more mints, Leslie...lol...They are really cute...once you get started it is hard to stop making them and finding uses for them.......don't say i didn't warn you...
DeleteToo adorable bundles of goodies. xox
ReplyDeleteWell thank you, Corrine! xo
ReplyDeleteThese are so pretty and creative! I was given a mini tin with cute washi tape covering the top. It had a little pin inside.
ReplyDeleteCindy -- the mini tins are so cute too. At our Xmas party for my mail art group we had the mini tins and we could fill them with used postage stamps -- the perfect size for stamps. So cool.
DeleteI adore these. They are fantastic. I love the postal washi tape. It is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI have created many, many tins in the past. I have cooked them in my chiminea, or sanded them before I added paper or embellishments. I prefer cooking them, so I don't have to sand them. It removes everything if you have the old ones, but not the ones with the raised word. I don't buy them, but I have a friend who does, so I get her empty ones. Here is a post that shows all I had made through 2012: http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-time-to-give-back.html
I've never considered making any with a postal theme, though. Yours are very clever.
Thanks, Elizabeth! Now I see two people have commented they cook them first -- I have never heard of that before -- very interesting. I will check out your link.I'm very curious about that process..... I don't like the raised lids either. Thanks for sharing the idea.
DeleteA new project for the new year! Yay! I can't believe I've never made any of these altered tins. Now, I just have to find some tins! Thanks for sharing your great ideas.
ReplyDeletecjsrq -- now you have a new project!!! You should be able to find some tins pretty easily. Trader Joe's mints have good tins as well as Altoids. I will look forward to seeing what you make on IG!
DeleteLove the tins. I like to put mine in the campfire for a day to take the finish off and antique them a little. Love your blog. Hope you will continue writing.
ReplyDeletenora -- ok, you are the second person to comment about cooking the tins -- something I have never heard of and I am intrigued. I am checking out the link mentioned above and going to try to find out more. How interesting. And thanks very much for your nice comment.....
DeleteCongrats to Miss Iowa, she is happy woman :) And thank you for tutorial how to make a lovely box for small treausures! :) Jolana
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jolana -- and you are welcome too! Now you can try making one.
DeleteI just read your comment about burning the altoid tins. The lady who places hers in the campfire and my burning them in my chiminea is the same concept. The heat of the fire turns them black, and the flame of the fire burns the paint off them. My friend Patty @ Magpie's Nest cooks hers in their BBQ. It is gas. She even has a tutorial on how she did it:
ReplyDeletehttps://bitze.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/grilling-tins-tutorial/
She grilled more than altoid tins, too. I've also burned lids, cans, and a few small round tins. Patty claims you need heat proof gloves, which I have, too. She also says to remove them using tongs, which I also do. However, she is able to allow hers to cool down before she removes them from the grill, something I don't do. Instead, I remove them when they are black and all the paint is off them. I immediately place them in a bucket of cold water I keep next to the chiminea. You can see my tools and process here:
http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2010/04/cold-day-in-my-recycled-life.html
although you will probably not want to read down too far, because I was ranting about other things, too.
There is a propane burner (I think it's called Bunz) that is sold at hardware stores you can buy if you don't want to go (or don't have access to) the other routes: grill, campfire, chiminea.
The ones that hang (13) on my blog are shown in detail here: http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2008/12/day-11-of-12-days-of-christmas-swap.html
I added a bit of alcohol ink in small doses to the outside front, back, and sides.
Here's another post where I added alcohol ink:
http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2008/11/altoid-tins-and-one-turned-into-gift.html
Patty gives fairly specific times in the gas grill, but I am always present, so can't be completely certain how long I leave mine in the fire.
I hope this has given you a few ideas of how to "cook" an altoid and other tins.
Thank you Elizabeth! You learn something every day.
DeleteJust found this post where I didn't bother cooking my tin, but covered it with paper: http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2016/04/altered-candy-tin-assemblage.html
ReplyDeleteHi! The bird ones are my favorite. Love them! Oh, I hope you continue to blog. Instagram is good, but you can't combine your writing/journaling with your photos, and that is what makes your posts so informative and inspiring! :-)
ReplyDeleteMichele - I agree about IG -- LOVE it but you can't do the same things like tutorials or multiple photos etc like you can put on a blog. I m partial t the postal tins but I love the birds too.I kept one of each....
DeleteVery cool! I am using a cigar box (not embellished) and a smaller cosmetics box (also not embellished) for airmail stamps/stickers. I am feeling inspired now. I need to ask family for TINS too!
ReplyDeleteThe only other thing I thought of to store in there would be stickers for envelope decoration, or other ephemera that I would be using. Great post - thanks!
Hi Garci -- A friend covered a cigar box in decorative paper for me (inside and out) for Xmas and it is amazing. I will put it on the blog soon. VERY inspiring. And the tins are really fun and handy -- oh yes, little ephemera and stickers would be good in the tin too. I cut small heads out of a French dictionary and filled a tin with heads for art projects too.....
Deleteyour 19 are splendid and so are the tins... Congrats to miss iowa!
ReplyDeleteThank you Cat! Miss Iowa is happy too!!
DeleteI love altered tins... so of course I have a pile of them (mostly the raised lid kind) and I have pictures of ideas saved on my computer - but I haven't made any!! The burning idea made me think - maybe I can hammer the lids a little to flatten them. 2017 will be the craft-from-my-stash year so I will do this!
ReplyDeleteThanks for another wonderful post. I love reading your blog AND seeing your IG posts... depends whether I'm at my computer, or just with my phone.
Happy 2017 Pamela, hoping the coming year is a good one for everyone.
Hi tamdoll -- hammer them? Now, that's an idea. A friend made me a tin using a raised lid and it still came out great. The tiny tins don't have raised lids -- too small to really collage but you can paint them and glue something on top -- like a stamp. have fun creating!
DeleteThanks so much for the very nice comment. I am so glad you enjoy the blog and my IG feed. I try to keep them different. Happy New Year to you -- and I am hoping/praying for a good 2017.
Wow, these are gorgeous! And what a great idea. You could use all kinds of leftover packaging, like a tea tin! Thanks for the ideas. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dawn C. That Altoid Tin idea has been around for quite a while but I've only recently started making them. They are fun for sure. I'd like to see what you do.
DeleteWe can never get enough of these, can we, pal?!
ReplyDeleteCan never have too many
I am so happy you make these now and we can trade forever!!
Thanks for the shout out and i love what you do, as well!
Xo