Repurposing a Tin

One concept I carry as I call my little corner of this electronic (and real-life) world "Paper Crafting with Purpose" is that I try to repurpose and recycle items that come through my life and make them prettier and practical as well. Here are some pictures of a tea tin that I have re-worked as a three-dimensional mini scrapbook. I am using up some "old" papers; these are the Grace collection from Close To My Heart (still available on Studio J, by the way).

You know I just can't resist embellishing with some Cricut Art Philosophy shapes. Here are some 3D flowers I cut using this exclusive to CTMH set!

Oh, I'll admit it...every one of the "tiles" for the inside were Cricut cuts too. The font, the circles, the rounded-corner squares, the scalloped squares. I would be a fool to try to make projects without this great resource, since I have it!

This shot shows the back of the lettered "tiles". I tried to make each one like a little scrapbook page. Ready for a photo or a journaling spot with a memory. I cut two times the number of tiles I needed and ran the ribbon between each shape to secure it.

Here you can see that I cut a square the size of the interior of the tin and punched a hole in the center. I adhered the end of the ribbon to the bottom of the tin UNDER the square, just to make it look a little neater to lookers. Because I suspect people are going to look inside this tin and check it out!

I'll admit, I'm having an issue uploading my photos on blogspot. It's me, really. And I'm too lazy to figure out the fix. But now it looks like I'm neatly tucking all the parts of this 3D scrapbook back in the tin (rather than just extracting them). Right?

Yes, of course. I wanted to leave you with a clean shot of the concept and contents. That's what I meant to do! I should tell you all a little bit about repurposing your tins. Just one little tidbit that I find helpful: you can use StazOn inks to "distress" the inner lip of the top (that the lid sits and fits on), but don't try to paint it or just use water-based inks. The former makes it too thick to fit and the latter smears off. So learn from me, folks, and you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Speaking of learning from me...I'm going to start holding real, live workshops! My first is going to be at the beginning of February - trying to firm up the date so I don't leave my hubby in the lurch (since he'll have to watch the Vs) and making sure I avoid some key birthday parties (because I'm hoping the moms of the would-be birthday-goers will come to my first workshop!)! More soon on this front!