KCTV, Altered Tin, with Tutorial

It's February,  and who's ready for some valentines? Me and Alpha Stamps, that's who! Let's tune in to KCTV (KittyCat TV, of course) for some good old-fashioned Valentine's Day fun. I love the vintage charm of these cheerful kittens; they remind me of my elementary school days, and valentines from my classmates.

The new retro tv, designed for use with Altoids sized tins, is perfect for this sweet kitty scene. And these cats know how to celebrate! Some happy sprinkles make this Valentine's party extra festive. I pulled a few hearts out of the sprinkles for little dimensional accents behind the kitten's heads, and on the front of the television.

Even the back of the tv is full of feline love.

Here's how KCTV was built. After deciding the theme of the program, I first decorated the tin. The cats were all cut out, then layered with foam tape to give dimension. A thick layer of glue was applied to the bottom of the tin, which was then sprinkled with... sprinkles! In the photo below, you can see the speaker vents in the upper corner of the tv. I wanted to preserve those, so I colored that area with a red marker so they will match the red paper that will be used on the front.

 

To cut the paper where the vents will show through, I traced the tv on the wrong side of the paper, and used a pencil to mark where the vents are. I then used an x-acto knife to cut out one hole for the vent area.  I used a red marker to draw around the opening. This will help this area blend in with the red paper. Then, the front of the tv was glued down and cut out along the edges with the x-acto.

Below you can see the finished front of the tv, and the back of the back. I did not put paper on the entirety of the insides of the tv, as the back of each piece won't show once it's fully constructed. The "brass" bottoms of the legs were painted with gold metallic paint, and a silver Sharpie was used for the antenna. A grey Copic marker was used on the red legs to make them look like they're set back a bit from the tv cabinet. I used a red Copic marker around the lip of the tin, in case any showed through once the tv facade was attached. A little bit of the turquoise paper is glued behind the speaker.

Here's how to make sure your tv is sturdy: glue the tin to the front of the tv first. Once that's good and dry, put lots of glue on the back of the tin and sandwich the two parts together. While the glue is wet, use some blocks (or whatever you have handy that will work) to make sure the back and front are exactly lined up. Let dry.

Once it's completely dry, you can add the antennas, paint the knobs and add any other embellishments to the front and call it a day. I did want to add some sides, though. A 12" long piece of the same red scrapbook paper is just enough to go from the outside of one leg, all around the top and other side of the tin, to the outside of the other leg. Cut the paper to the width of the side. I cut a notch in the paper to accommodate the antenna, so I glued the paper at the top of the tv first. Then one side at a time, I glued the paper around the curves. Be patient and hold that paper in place for a bit while it dries! You'll have to trim the paper a bit when it gets to the legs. I went ahead and cut another piece to finish the bottom. That piece was notched for the legs as shown below.

Now sit back and enjoy the show! 💕 For a complete list of supplies, click here.

Be My Snarky Valentine

Valentine's Day means different things to different people. I made this "valentine" for the "Be My Snarky Valentine" swap on Craftster.org. My partner in the swap shares my love for 50's housewives, so I put together this altered Altoids tin for her.

The original image had this friendly woman holding a tray of food, so I removed the food and let her carry a trio of tiny plastic beer bottles. Much more fun! Although their are hearts on the wooden block stand, there's no love from this chick. Broken hearts follow her around. Sorry, cupid!

I made a card to send along with the tin. Happy snarky Valentine's Day to all!

Tin of the Month Club, February

Here's the second in my Tin of the Month Club series. In case you missed January, I found a great set of 12 tiny tins, and each month, I'll be altering one to celebrate that month.

Ah, February! Seems like a Valentine's theme is in order. For this tin, I used red glitter around some cute scrapbook paper with hearts. The words "kiss me" were cut out of an old dictionary, and the happy couple came from a collage sheet. I trimmed the outside with tiny red pom poms, and a heart and cupid charm, all found at Alpha Stamps. So romantic!

And here, with the tin from January:

See you next month with March's tin!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a little 3D collage I made for Alpha Stamps. I was lucky that most of the letters in the alphabet blocks were already red, but it was easy to paint the others to match. I used Copic markers to give the little girl some color. Happy Valentine's day, and happy birthday to my older daughter: best Valentine I ever received.

Extra Sweet Valentine ATCs

Alpha Stamps came up with a chipboard banner that's just perfect for ATCs, and what better use of a swaggy banner than some sentimental, oh-so-sweet Valentine ATCs? I'm usually more a fan of the dark and dreary (think Halloween!), but every now and then it's fun to pull out the pink and get all sappy. Here are a couple of ATCs I created with the new banner, some of the new Valentine collage sheets, and some other Alpha Stamps supplies.

So romantic! For this card, I covered the banner in a stripey scrapbook paper and then used a dark colored pencil to imitate folds. The pediment at the top is from the Valentine Banners collage sheet, which has tons of great boarders. I will be using that for making Valentines, if I indeed get around to it. 

Here's cupid, coming your way! I probably should have photographed this on a darker background, because it's difficult to see the lacy accent at the top of the swag.

Don't you love that little heart ribbon at the top of the card? I picked that up at my favorite local supply store, Impressive Ideas. If you're anywhere near Roswell, GA, you're going to want to go visit sometime. Bring your checkbook! I can't ever get out of there without finding all sorts of things I wasn't even aware I needed.

Valentine's Cupid Shrine

I took a little fellow from the Alpha Stamps Little Darlings collage sheet and put him on a spool, but he looked so small and insignificant that I decided to put him in a shrine. Luckily, I had a nice tea box that seemed to fit him perfectly. I covered the back and sides with scrapbook paper and organza ribbon roses, painted feet to match, and then popped him in the center. I liked the green of the box that was showing around the edges, so I added in some moss, and then some tiny hearts and small pearls. A few vintage buttons and a pink metal rose finished off the top nicely.

I'd usually cover the sides on the inside of the box, but this box had shiny silver sides, and I like the way they reflect the back panel, so I left them alone.

What are you making for your Valentine?

Matchbox Valentines For Your Sweetie

Sometimes I just love working small. I had a bunch of matchboxes sitting around (you never know when you're gonna need them!), so I decided to make a couple of Valentines. I stocked up on some fun Valentine-y papers and some ribbon, and set to work. I couldn't stop at just one! After fiddling around a bit, this is what I came up with:

They all have a little vignette in the inside drawer. I lined the edges with some faux pearls, then added some metal roses and a bottle cap with a romantic image to each one. Some cupids:

A loving couple:

And another little cupid.

There's still room in the drawers to add a little love note. Sweet!