Valentine's Tin

If you are like me, you save those cute mint tins for something(they're so cute, aren't they?). It's tradition that I make my sweetie something for Valentine's Day. It started because I just couldn't afford to buy him anything nice and I thought, 'what is nicer than something that I took the time to make?'. This project is really cute and relatively easy. It holds cards with Valentine's 'gifts'. Mine have things such as 'free foot rub', 'breakfast in bed', etc. You'll need:

sandpaper(any)
gesso
acryllic paint
scraps of patterned paper, cardstock
embellishments: ribbon, lace, gems, chipboard, etc.
adhesives
pens

First, lightly sand the tins so they take the paint. Paint with a layer of gesso(it works like a paint primer to help your paint 'stick' and look the right color). Then paint with Pepto Bismol, just kidding, it just happened that my paint mix ended up looking like it!

Next, decorate the top and inside however you like. I just used the base of the tin to trace the shape on patterned paper to fit inside my lid and base. I inked the edges before I placed it in. Double sided tape worked well here. Glue dots hold the rest. Then I added lace, chipboard, stickers, a punched heart, tag, gem, vellum flower.


Here's the detail on the lid. This was a fun experiment for me. I cut a piece of patterned paper, then punched it with a corner punch(I think it looks like a butterfly) and backed it with contrasting cardstock. Then I inked the edges. Last, I covered the whole piece with Crackle accents. It didn't exactly crackle on the paper, but I still think it made a cool effect!

Last I cut bits of patterned paper and glued them with white glue onto pink cardstock. Then I wrote my 'gifts' on them. Voila! Just place them in the tin for a lovely hand made gift!