Alice at Tea

It's been too danged long since I made altered an Altoids tin. I had forgotten just how much I love doing that! Luckily this month at Alpha Stamps, it's all about Alice in Wonderland and tins, which is just the kick in the pants I needed.

I selected the perfect image of Alice at the tea party from this collage sheet, and then found fun papers that went well with the image. I removed the lid of my tin and covered it with the papers. Need some tips about this covering tins? Click here for my tutorial.

The base of the tin is made from letters from an old spelling game. The porcelain hand on top holds a tasty looking tart, and is surrounded by the White Rabbit's pocket watch and a key. I used Apoxie Sculpt to adhere these items.

The die cut cardboard insert with the Cheshire Cat on it is great for adding extra dimension. The details on the trees and cat were done with colored pencils, while the insert border was painted to match the color of the background paper I chose. I used a tiny brush to apply bright white paint to accent the cat's eyes and teeth. Here's a little closeup.

The figures from the collage sheet are attached to the back of the tin with foam dots to give the scene even more dimension. I used pink pom pom fringe because I liked the 50's sort of color vibe it added. 

I always like to make sure my tin backs looks good, too. I used the perfect crazy Alice-like patterned paper for the back. You can see here that the letter cubes are attached to a base of scrapbook paper-wrapped cardboard up under the tin. That's so the pom poms in the front don't hang down and obscure the letters.

More Alice art coming up, so check back soon! Meanwhile, for a complete list of supplies, click here.

Floral Box with Hinged Lid

Every now and then I like to do things differently. When I saw the ATC Window Box Shrine kit that Alpha Stamps carries, I thought it would make a neat little box. So I embellished it, set it on its side, and added metal box feet. Now the front door is a lid! I backed the "window panes" with some contrasting colored paper before adding a pretty spray of spring flowers. I like the dimensional look of the top under the flowers.

Inside, I made a little tag book of sorts. I used a ball chain, so new pieces can be added any time.

The tag book consists of a bead and charms, a couple of different sized tags, and two different sizes of a chipboard cage with solid back (2" and 3"). The wires of the cages were colored with silver metallic Sharpies, and the backs were covered with images from the Blue Birds collage sheet. I used spray mount to attach the fronts to the backs. The birdhouse charm on the last tag is hung in a little window. I used a little E6000 to hold the bottom of the charm in place on the bottom of the cutout ledge.

Here's an aerial view of the paper flowers and leaves stacked up on the top of the box:

I think it makes a pretty nice set for spring. For a complete set of supplies I used in making this project, click here.