Robin’s Nest Blog Hop–Check out this altered Altoid tin Christmas Ornament

Robin’s Nest Blog Hop–Check out this altered Altoid tin Christmas Ornament
Robin’s Nest Blog Hop–Check out this altered Altoid tin Christmas Ornament

Welcome to the Robin’s Nest Christmas Blog Hop.

Make sure to visit each of the stops on the Design Team blog hop because the Robin’s Nest is giving away a fabulous prize–a bottle of Christmas Dew Drops–at every blog stop. To enter the contest begin at the Robin’s Nest, follow the links and leave a comment on each blog site. Also make sure you follow the  Robin’s Nest Facebook page.  

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 How to make this Christmas Ornament Altered Altoid Tin

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Step 1

Paint Plastic reindeer with white acrylic paint. Let dry.

Step 2

Apply white glitter glue.

Step 3

Remove lid by slowly bending lid backward to pull hinges away from box and sliding lid off. This is also a good time to remove that leftover mint dust because if anyone takes a picture of it at this stage, it might be embarrassing (cough, cough).

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Step 4

Using a pliers and tin snips, bend the hinge tabs on the box outward and snip off as close to the box as possible. (Hint: If you have an old pair of scissors that you don’t care about, you can use these instead of tin snips to get a closer cut). Bend the remaining portion of the tabs back in, so that they are aligned with the box. Save the lid to use for another project.

Step 5

Trace an outline of the Altoid box base onto the back side of the Robin’s Nest Winter Deer Glitter Cardstock. Carefully cut this out, slightly inside the lines and try fitting it inside the tin. Make tiny incremental trims, if necessary, until you have a perfect fit. Remove and set aside.

Step 6

Measure, and then measure again, the depth of the box. Usually this is 13/16″, but measure to make sure. Cut tone 12″ strips of the Winter Deer Glitter Cardstock, making sure to go against the grain of the stripes on the reverse side. Check to ensure that this fits the inside sides of the box. Trim the length as necessary

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Step 7

Repeat Step 6 with the back side of the  Winter Snowflakes Cardstock, adding 1/16 of an inch to the width of your strips. This should fit the outside sides of the tin.

Step 8

Trace another outline of the Altoid box base onto the back side of the Winter Snowflakes Cardstock. Carefully cut this out, barely inside the lines and make sure it fits the back of the tin. Wait to trim this piece until Step 13. Set aside.

Step 9

Apply matte medium (I used Liquitex) to the inside sides of the tin and the deer side of the Winter Deer Glitter Cardstock. Place the strips in the tin. Place the seam on the bottom of the tin because it will be the least obvious spot. The top of the tin will have the  holes where the hinge was. If you did this right, the sides should now be covered in blue and white stripes.

Step 10

Apply matte medium to the base of the tin and the Winter Deer Glitter Cardstock rectangle. Carefully set this base piece into place. Cover both the  inside base and sides with a thin coat of matte medium. Let dry.

Step 11

Using a small hole punch, make two small holes in the top of the tin where the hinge openings were.

Step 12

Apply matte medium to the outer sides of the tin and the snowflake side of the Winter Snowflakes Cardstock strip. Place the strip on the tin, with the seam at the bottom of the tin. .

Step 13

Check to make sure that that the Winter Snowflakes Cardstock rectangle fits the base of the tin (snowflake side up) so that it neatly covers your side edges. Make any necessary changes with tiny incremental trims, until you have a perfect fit. On the back (dark blue) side, make a note about which corner fits the bottom right hand corner of your tin. This will keep everything lined up for when you are ready to adhere the rectangle.

Step 14

Apply matte medium to the outside base of the tin and the dark blue side of the Winter Snowflakes rectangle. Line up the placement according to the notation you made in Step 13.  Then cover both the outside base and sides with a thin coat of matte medium. Let dry.

Step 15

While the paper on the tin dries, use a strong adhesive to adhere Metallic Gold Dew Drops to four to five tips of your snowflakes.

Step 16

After the paper has thoroughly dried, line up your hole punch with the previous holes you made and re-punch the holes.

Step 17

Glue a blue bead onto one end of a white tinsel pipe cleaner. Starting from inside the tin, thread the pipe cleaner through one hole and back through the second hole, leaving enough length to form a hanger loop. Cut the pipe cleaner and glue another blue bead onto the end. Add a tiny dot of glue  to the inside of the hole edges to keep the beads in place.

Step 18

Attach the deer and snowflakes with strong adhesive.

Step 19

Starting at the bottom of the tin, attach white tinsel pipe cleaner to the front outside edge.

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Stuff I used

  • Winter Deer Glitter Cardstock
  • Winter Snowflakes Cardstock
  • Metallic Gold Dew Drops
  • Altoid tin
  • Plastic deer
  • White snowflakes (I had these in my stash, but I love you so much that I searched and searched until I found some similar ones at Factory Direct Craft I think I remember seeing them at Michaels last week, but I couldn’t find them online, so don’t blame me if it’s a wasted trip or if you go to buy $1.99 snowflakes and come home with $250.00 of other craft supplies ).
  • White tinsel pipe cleaner
  • Star Dust Stickles
  • White acrylic paint
  • Blue beads
  • Liquitex Matte Medium
  • Several adhesives including hot glue gun, E-6000 and Aleene’s Glass and Bead Glue

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