Tin Gift Ornament Tutorial

I really wish I had posted this project a couple weeks ago for your inspiration, but I only just got around to making it! :( I remembered a concept that was introduced to me by my stepmother several years ago, she gave me a tree ornament that opened up and was meant to hold a little gift from your beloved. So how about a tin? (we give a lot of gift cards in this house LOL!) This is a great way not only to decorate your tree but have a beautiful reusable gift box year after year that the recipient will look forward to opening each Christmas morning, it will become a tradition!
This is the first "white" poinsettia I've made, can you believe?! (so many sets and images to work with, so little time!) I used my Blender Copic, G99 Olive and YG03 Yellow Green for subtle shading in and around, I just love how this turned out! To shade around it I touched the tip of my blender to the green marker and went in small circles around the outline. TIP: To soften the look of your image try colored ink instead of black, even though this colored ink is not waterproof, this green ink works here because I am going to use other shades of green to color it (and green is fabulous with a nature image), I don't have to worry about bleeding the image or getting a "muddy" result like you would if you mixed different colors. I added a couple self adhesive rhinestones to the center and inked up my "For You" from the "What's in Your Tin? 2" set with Old Olive and then swiped my Always Artichoke marker along the bottom before stamping to give the greeting a "two-tone" look. Edited to add: I just remembered I outlined some of the veins in the leaves with my green Copic atyou Spica for sparkle. :)

Creating the label and tin was simple: First I stamped my border in Old Olive from "What's in Your Tin? 1" on Gina K Pure Luxury 80 lb white CS to make a top label for my tin.

Then I stamped it on some scratch paper and cut out the inside of the bottom to create a mask. I stamped my poinsettia from "A Year of Flowers" in Always Artichoke over the mask and removed, now it's perfectly contained inside my custom border!

I opened the lid of my Altoid tin and punched two holes in the top with my Cropodile. Then I tied some 1/4" grosgrain to hang it and some 5/8" grosgrain around that (shown in next pic) to jazz it up.

Last I trimmed my label and adhered it to the tin with permanent DotnRoller, this stuff is so easy to use and stays put!! This box is for my husband, and this year I'll be putting in a gift card(don't worry about him finding out, he doesn't read my blog! LOL), but at any time I could change it up on him and add a gift small enough to fit in the tin like candy, a watch, etc! (For the sake of time I have not yet decorated the inside, but adding a little "Merry Christmas" and the person's name would be the perfect finishing touches! This could be a progressive project that I enjoy adding to each season LOL!) ;)

Isn't that fun? It's not too late for you to make some of these! Even if you don't have them ready for this Christmas, create some in the days following, a perfect post-Christmas craft while the kids are out of school and have your family help in choosing their favorite colors and images for their own boxes* (kind of fun to be able to open the little door "Advent calendar"** to reveal a gift instead of "unwrapping") before you pack the decorations away. You'll thank yourself when Christmas comes around next year and you pull out your ornaments, finding these boxes ready to go! :)

* I'll be back to share what the tin ornaments I make for my boys when I finish them (I think they have their eye on some "Have a Cookie" and "Funky Christmas" images) and with any luck, I'll be able to get them or DH to make one for ME! ;)

** Oh, you know what would be sooooo cool? If I find an extra DAY somewhere, create 24 little tins to put on the tree to create a hanging Advent Calendar with a piece of candy or small toy in each that will last forever and carry that whole silver tin theme throughout the tree!!! Wouldn't that be spectacular? ooh, off to order more tins!!! :)