Turning Mint Tins into 3-D Ornaments

The plan for this year is to have a Victorian/Steampunk-ish Christmas, which means making some new ornaments out of "found" objects and things I already have around the apartment. These are my first ornaments made out of mint tins. I really like the way they turned out and I'd like to make more.



Spray paint that is made to adhere to plastic and metallic spray paint both worked well to cover the tins.




I covered the tops of the boxes with Victorian Christmas pictures that I found on the internet and framed them with gold pipe-stem cleaners and glitter glue.



I used a regular glue stick to attach the background pictures and then Super Glue for the trim.




A 12 pt. font worked well for typing out the words on the inside of the box and double sided tape added a little dimension to the moon. 3-dimensional scrapbook stickers can also be used for this effect.



This is my favorite of the two I've created so far:




The outside of the box is a picture of Queen Victoria and her family celebrating Christmas, while on the inside, a little chimney sweep (played by Blaze) is asleep on a roof top, with his stocking hung on the chimney.





The pros and cons of Newman's Own Mint tins vs. Altoids mint tins:

Altoids' tins are deeper, but have raised lettering, making it necessary to cover the lids with decorative paper or pictures. Altoids are easier to find in stores.

Newman's Own tins are shallow, but have smooth lids that make them easier to just paint and decorate (the manly tea party tin is from Newman's Own). Personal preference, I prefer the flavor of Newman's Own.

Mint tins can also be decorated, without the 3-dimensional elements, and used as boxes for gift cards.


Blaze posing for the picture: