The 4th of July holiday is now behind us and I am back on track with crafting and real estate. A new listing is going up on the MLS today. Yay! I am working on some special projects and also one that is going to be a part of a series with a beach/shore theme. I will post some of those in the near future.
Once again, I am posting a project that I made as part of the online craft group Craft That Divas on Facebook. For this swap, we each had one partner and we needed to make some pretty 3-inch stick pins and make something pretty in which to present them. I could have made any kind of stick pin holder, from a pin cushion, to a cloth booklet; but I had seen these altered Altoid boxes on Pinterest and was intrigued by them. This gave me the perfect opportunity to make one!
I took apart an Altoid tin and used the two larger parts of the tin, the bottoms, to form the box. From there, this is what I came up with. The interior and the pins are shown below also.
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| This is how two Altoid tins ended up as a presentation box for handmade stickpins. |
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| It is supposed to resemble a book. I added a little key to the ribbon closure. |
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| My swap partner, Amber, likes peacock feathers. I used some paper from the Old Curiosity Shop line from Graphic 45. The metal pieces for the corners, the lock and the key were all brass. I altered the color using a Spectrum Noir alcohol marker. |
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| The book covers are made of medium weight chipboard. I painted the edges with a blend of acrylic paints. |
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| Don't you just love the little flying pigs paper I used on the tins? |
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| It stands up like a book on a shelf. |
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| Here are the handmade stick pins in colors I hope Amber likes. She can choose to wear these as an accessory or add them to projects. Making stick pins is just one of my addictions! I placed the stick pins on removable cards with ribbon pull tabs. She can use the box for another purpose, if she wishes. The hinges are made of ribbon, but I forgot to take a photo from that angle. :-( |
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| I included this handmade card with the swap. I used some gold paint to distress it a bit. |
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| I used parchment paper for the interior of the card and stamped it with little butterflies. I embossed the envelope with a postal motif. |
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| Here is the card and envelope pictured together. |
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| As an added gift, I made this long presentation box. |
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| I surprised Amber with two handmade 6-inch stick pins. I used a #8 tag as the holder. I embossed it with a Parisian theme . . . the Eifel Tower and painted it with acrylic paint. I was so happy when I found the little Eifel Tower charm at Michaels! |
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| This is the back of the tag for the 6-inch stick pins. The old fashioned images of the bicycles is so charming!
I look forward to making more stick pins. I have a lot of beads and some special pins, including some that I picked up in Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. They have black teardrop shaped heads and are what the Amish women use to pin their bonnets. And . . .I have a few empty Altoid tins, waiting to be transformed! I will have to come up with something to use the tops for, too!
The day is melting away and I still have a bit of work to do here at my desk and tall weeds to pull out in the overgrown gardens. So, I will close here and, as always, . . . may God hold you in the hollow of His hand until we meet again.
Emmy
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