Altoid Tin Challenge

The local craft stamping group I attend on a monthly basis, set us a creative challenge at our last meeting. To alter an altoid tin. Each of us was furnished with an empty tin and told to take it home and transform it.  Well it has sat on my desk, daring me to make something of it for the last few weeks and suddenly I realise that the next get together is looming. So with paints, gesso, paper and fabric in hand, I set about it's alteration.

I began by painting it with a thin layer of white gesso, to give the surface a key for painting onto. I then mixed a tiny amount of blue acrylic paint into a big dollop of white and brushed the outside in two coats. When dry, I took Ranger's White Opal Liquid Pearls, and smeared the surface with a thin application, using  my finger. This gave it a shimmering, almost metallic appearance. I glued paper twine around the lid and cut a patch of fabric to glue to the top. I frayed the edges of the fabric and adhered it using Ranger's Glue N' Seal. I used a Spellbinders heart die to cut out a shape from mulberry paper and cut out words from an old charity-shop book I have in my stash. I adhered everything with the Glue N' Seal before coating the surface of the tin with a thin layer of Glue N' Seal. It does just what it says on the tin :) Finally I dotted the edge with liquid pearls.

Inside the tin, I cut out a patch of linen fabric to line the bottom. I added a sprinkling of small buttons and a shell to accompany a miniature handmade book.

The book was made from the smallest die in Spellbinders Labels Number 17 set. I made a concertina book using ribbon as the binding. On the outside of the book, I drew a freehand heard using the liquid pearls. Inside, I decorated the pages with more drawn hearts which I coloured with acrylic paints.

And there you go, my entry for the altered altered tin challenge.

If you're wondering if the pictures have been installed on our walls over the weekend, fear not, they are still gathering dust in the corner. So did baking win over? Nope. We had an idle weekend, interspersed with trips to the shops for essential food supplies, a spot of gardening, a couple of countryside strolls and waiting on the cat hand and foot. We blinked and the weekend was over. Never mind, the next one has a bank holiday. We may actually do it then haha.

Px