Mini Albums
Altered Altoid Tin with Mini Album
By Charity Hassel
Aug 18, 2005, 10:55

Many times a week people ask to see pictures of the people we love. It can be a chore to create a portable way showcase all those fun, everyday photos that other’s would want to see. Sometimes it’s hard to find a way to carry a small album with you without it getting torn up. I wanted to find a way to place a mini album in my purse but still have something that would take a few bumps and bruises. An altered altoid tin can be a great container for holding mini albums.

Altoids come in different size and shaped tins. I chose to buy a circular container, but there are also very small rectangle shapes as well as larger rectangle shapes with curved corners. The altoids usually cost less than two dollars. I simply emptied out the candy and cleaned out the tin of any candy pieces (make sure you clean the inside top of the tin). There is a circular piece of paper in the bottom that comes with the round container. You can use this to trace around onto a sheet of cardstock. Cut out the circle you have traced and use that as a template for your mini album. You do not want to use the paper from the candy tin as a template as it is usually sticky from the candy.

Next, I used the round template to trace and cut six round circles out of double sided patterned paper. I used the new Kaleidoscope patterned paper from My Mind’s Eye. I inked the edges of all my circles. Next, use a needle to poke a whole through the side of your circles and then push your brad through the hole. You want to make three holes along one side of your circles. Once your brads are in place you should be able to open the album like a book.

mini album for altoid tin

There are other options as to how to make your mini album. Make an accordion-style album or even a small tag album. If you choose to alter a rectangle shaped altoid tin you may even make multiple rectangle pages. A corner rounder punch can be used to make rounded edges to match the container. Use a hole puncher to make holes in the side of each page and use ribbon, small chain or a metal loop to hold them together. You could also attach your pages with ribbon. Attach ribbon along the back of each small page, making the ribbon run along between pages. Then just fold up the pages onto each other.

An altered altoid tin could also be a great container to hold favorite sayings, Bible verses, prayer requests or even candy.

The outside of the tin can be altered using many different methods. Paint the tin, stamp it, use fake flowers, buttons, or ribbon to make it fun. Make a collage of small pictures using mod podge, gel medium or a similar adhesive to hold them in place I chose to use paper cutouts that came with the Kaleidoscope paper. The top lid to the container was made by using glue dots to adhere the round paper piece. Ric-rac with adhesive already on the back was placed around the edges of the round top. I used Heidi Swapp tape to go around the outside of the bottom part of the container. I also used the ric-rac on the bottom of the container. Doodlebug Designs flowers were adhered with glue dots to the top of the container. The container is opened easily when you press on a section of the top of the can (the original container top says “press here”). I purposely placed my flower directly on that area so you can open the container easily by pressing on the flower. Don’t forget to decorate the inside top of the tin if you wish. If you are making this as a gift you could write or type a small note and adhere it to the top inside cover of the tin.

top cover of altoid tin

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