Altoid type mermaid tin tutorial

 Welcome!

All kaleidoscopes by inkspired and KaleidoCam 

Today I thought I might not fight Blogger’s new and hair-pulling formatting, and go with the flow.

Let’s begin the adventure in blogging!

(Who knew blogs could be so mysterious, yet oddly fun?)

Mermaid Dreams 

altered mint tin tutorial

Let’s start with a mint tin. Altoid’s is a familiar brand. I am using a Trader Joe’s tin of the same size, approximately.

The end result:

First clean tin well. Dry. Then take 2-3 colors of water-based acrylic paints. Also have a bottle of white acrylic paint.

Tip: always check the clearance aisle or look for a clearance sticker. Acrylic paint regularly goes on sale due to having a ‘messy’ outer bottle, discontinued shades, etc. The paint inside is usually just fine.

Base coat all sides of tin with 2 main colors, dabbing on with a paint brush or sponge randomly. Overlap, swipe, dab. 

Tip: don’t try to ‘brush’ on the metal. It won’t work. Getting frustrated? Let dry. Go have a cup of tea. Come back and the ‘new’ paint will stick to the old for better coverage.

Take an old paintbrush, a practice mat and some white paint.

(I use cut up cereal box cardboard.)

With just a bit of white, scrub your brush up and down like a piece of Rick-rack. You want to mimic the white foam at the tops of waves. The line is never straight, or thick. 

Don’t scrape too hard, to prevent removing the base coat.

Think about the placement of your paper cut outs. You might want some sea foam in front of the main mermaid, or prefer to paint it behind her.

I tried to take LOTS of photos for you to look at from different angles.

Don’t forget to add white ‘waves’ to the sides both inside and out.

Stick your old brush with a little paint into the hinge areas too.

In the next 2 photos look at the paper cut outs around the tin, and placed inside too. I always have ready almost 3x the number of pieces that I will need. I have plenty available to choose from that way.

The paper piece I used for the standing up background is a scrap from a larger piece I cut shapes from. It reminded me of random sea weed.

I folded it, shaped the edges to fit the tin curves and snipped off pieces that I didn’t like. This was very subjective and not a ‘do exactly this way’ time. If this makes you crazy, use a template for large seaweed or an ocean bottom coral type diecut/Cricut cut. Many options out there.

Once you find what you like, start to glue in place. Only use dabs here & there to hold, as you will be adding more later. This is your supporting background area only, with perhaps a little onto one side or another. (See photo).

Tip: I like to use in addition to glue, some small pieces of double stick foam tape for dimension. I even double and triple stack them.) 

Let’s begin preparing our add-on pieces now.

Using your glued in place background, 

start placing paper cut outs where they might need to go.

Tip: I use mini clothespins to temporarily hold in place.

This is when I add in my final coloring on the individual pieces. I use water-based markers, acrylic paint pens, colored pencils, Sharpie color markers, and super fine tip markers. Watercolor pencils, embossing powders, acrylic paint - I use it all!

It would be easier to color shapes before cutting out, but I seem to always forget that when actually doing a project!

Tip: a chopstick works great to hold tiny bits of paper when you are adding color. Chopsticks are also useful for holding small pieces of  paper when heat embossing.

I use chopsticks to hold items in place until the glue ‘grabs’, and my fingers would be too big and get in the way.

You can find in the above photo that I am using Spellbinder’s metal dies with my Spellbinder Platinum cutting machine (octopus, mermaid,  shells, etc,) stamped and embossed images (fish in foreground example) that I will hand cut; some Sizzix Sidekick border dies cut from one side adhesive cardstock, shells cut from hand marbled papers; and a treasure chest stamped & heat embossed with gold.

This is the stamp set I used for the treasure chest.

More on how I made the treasure chest later.

Next I want to add some standing sea grasses. This piece has been cut from a larger background Spellbinders metal die.

Take a scrap of cardstock (I chose a blue color to blend with my painted colors). Cut a rectangle almost as long as your grass piece. Using a bone folder, crease a seam long lengthwise down the middle. You want enough scrap to be high enough to glue your extra pieces to, and wide enough so when 1 side is glued to the tin base it will support your grasses. Refer to photo, please.

Here you can see the grasses + stand are glued together, but not onto the tin yet.

At this point you can glue on a larger decoration if you want. I chose a mermaid die cut.

Unfortunately I also forgot I was going to show steps, so there are a few ‘gaps’ in my tutorial.

☹️

I have made similar stands for some smaller pieces that I want to be in the middle. 

Look closely and you can see I have a shell and some scrap paper longish seaweed with stands.

Next you want to dab some paint onto the stands, to match the colors of your sea floor.

If you prefer you can do this before you glue in to the tin. Your preference.

Notice I have also glued in place some background accent pieces such as a dolphin, smaller mermaid and shells.

Now let’s do a little work on the outside of the tin.

This is how my brain works, as I create while I go along.

Some of you may prefer to paint everything first.

Make all your stands and stand alone pieces at once.

And that’s just fine!

This is why it is always good to read directions or watch a tutorial all the way to the end before you start a project.

You now know what the end result should look like, and now you can fiddle and adapt to personalize the item yourself.

This is NOT like baking a cake!

Your measurements do not need to be exact.

Your colors do not have to be exactly the same as mine.

😋

I chose the same paint colors as the inside. 

Remember:

*old paint brush

*dab, not brush strokes

*let dry, and dab over shiny spots

Add white ‘foam’ if desired, to define waves.

Next I glued on my Sizzix Sidekick die cut border 

around the outside bottom of the tin.

I felt it needed some sparkle,

so I added on some glitter glue in a white sparkle for accents.

(My favorite is Ranger’s Stickles Glitter Glue)

Whew!

Time for a cup of something hot

on a cold snowy day.

My new favorite:

Folger’s decaf coffee in a paper packet

12 - 14 ounce mug, approximately 

Hot water, about 8 ounces

Mix well.

Add in, to taste:

2 ounces Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur 

1 - 2 ounces Peppermint Mocha creamer

Stir well, and enjoy!

Back to mermaids!

I chose an ocean themed saying,

 snipped from some cardstock I found in my cupboard.

(My craft room is truly a treasure chest of surprises!)

I used my fancy ‘ruffle’ edge scissors 

and cut some waves free form 

from some pretty white on white embossed paper scrap.
Next:

Glue on your saying and waves to the back!

Check placement before gluing.

Check again!

I found it very easy to get turned around in this step.

After gluing, add some Stickles glitter glue swirls, etc.

This will help pull the back and front themes together.

Next up- the bottom.

I am feeling like this is getting a bit long,

so I will close the tutorial for now.

My next blog will cover the treasure chest,

and finishing the bottom.

This will then leave you with a beautiful

Mermaid Altered tin!

😁

‘Til next time,

inkspired

Detail of gold mosaic floor by Walter Crane, c.1881