Altered Altoid Tin - Christmas Scene Tree Decoration

This is the original idea that was behind my investing in a tidy pile of 18 small, silver tins ……

I started by lining the inside of the tin, on both sides, with scraps of  snowy patterned paper, using the templates I made after making my Easter bunny tin, which made the whole process so much easier.

I then moulded a small piece of air drying, paper clay for the snow, applying PVA glue to the back to keep it in place.

While the snow was still soft I added two very small bottle brush trees, cutting one side flat, so that they could be glued against the back of the tin. I also removed their wooden stands to expose the wire, which could then be sunk into the snow with a good dollop of glue.

The tiny baked Fimo snowman was made beforehand, with added red cotton thread scarf, wire arms and features drawn using a black and red fine point Sharpie pen.

I made a small indentation in the still soft clay and with another generous dollop of PVA glue the snowman was set in position.  Paper clay takes approximately 24 hours to dry through, depending on the size of the project.

The white wooden heart came from a pack of 60 (all the same size) from The Works. I found these packs on the sale for half price, so it would have been rude not to buy them, especially as I think I may also be able to make a few brooches using them as a base.

I used a black, fine point Sharpie pen for the writing and faux stitching and again glued it into the tin.

This is the stage when I forgot to take  a few more pictures as I became so wrapped up in all the tiny embellishing bits, my apologies ……….

……. however, I added tiny white snowflake confetti to both sides, with minute silver, flat back gems in the centre, plus faux stitching round the edges of the paper inside (which, I should have done at the beginning!), a sprinkling of ultra fine, white glitter on the snow and a silver nail art heart to the side.

On the lid I put a silver coloured, metal label, two plastic snowflakes, a few more confetti ones, tiny silver, flat back gems and clusters of three dots using a very fine nail art pen.

On the back of the tin I glued a small, silver bail so that the tin can be hung on a Christmas tree branch.

I am really thrilled with how the tin turned out, it’s something a little bit different and I think I’ll make at least another ten or so. I need to keep a few tins I aside for other ideas …… but they all ought to all be used up by Christmas, it’s no use having them just sat sitting in a drawer, so hopefully there’ll be a few more ideas to use them to come in the next few months or so.

Plastic Snowflakes

I have been banging on about getting some more plastic snowflakes because after ordering 300 three years ago, I am down to my last few. Back in 2019 they cost me £6.58, this time round they were £12.09 ……. buying from China doesn’t seem such a bargain these days!