Good Evening Everybody!
I'll be short and get to the project in a second. But, for tonights adventure, I had a battle with a computer cord! It was the cord against me and it won!! Now I'm infamous for not getting along with cords! They hate me and I them and that's ok! They honestly attack me! They do! No, seriously, they pop up out of nowhere and try to take this big boy down! Can someone please tell me....I'm begging here...how in God's Green Earth, can a WHITE Mac cord that is lying completely flat on the floor get wrapped around my ankle TWICE! Tell me! I want to know! Really! If it not the bugs it's the cords that are going to send me to the ER! Just Sayin'! With that said, I feel so much better....ahhhhh!
The Fast and Easy is done!
Here she is...TINNED MEMORIES....
Alrighty, I'm going to walk you through this Shabby Chic meets Tropical Travelouge Tin.
Materials:
Tin
Graphic 45 Metal Flower Staples
Graphic 45 Metal Mini Brads
Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue Paper Pad
Kraft Cardstock
Black Cardstock
4 Inches of Ribbon
Delta Antique White, Pitch Black and Calico Red paint
Glue or Scor-Tape
Grab your tin of Altoids, Sucrets (do they still make those?) or other small tin out of your purse or car glove compartment and dump those puppies contents into a Ziploc bag. We need that tin to get started. You may want to wipe it out too. However, I've found that black paint and altoid powder does wonderful things for opening the sinuses.
Next, take some sand paper or med to fine (0000) steel wool and sand the top, bottom and sides to remove some of the paint and mainly "scuff up" to give the tin a tooth to accept the paint.. Like I reported in a previous post, your can burn this sucker with a creme brulee torch....OUTSIDE...ON CONCRETE... Remember this will burn the heck out of your hand so remember to take the oven mit with you or let it cool down before you lay any part of your body on it! I still have ALTOID emblazened on my palm. Not cool, but definitely a conversation starter!
OK now that's done, grab some pitch black paint and and paint the exterior and interior of the box. You want to let it dry very well. If you use your heat gun for faster drying, make sure you let it sit for a few minutes to let the acrylic harden on your piece. Once again, grab your sand paper and sand down the edges at various spots pulling off the black paint allowing the metal color to show through.
Next, dig though your stash and pull out your Graphic 45 Metal Flower Staples and G45's new awesome nini brads. Using a pair of round nose pliers bend up your flower petals. It's very easy to do as the metal is pretty malleable. Using Antique White paint, paint the petals front and back. While you are waiting for these to dry, paint your mini brads red. Once all pieces are dry, use your sand paper and sand over the raised edges pulling the antique white up and off the flowers. Repeat the same process for the mini brads randomly sanding off the red paint.
Arrange the flowers how you would like them on the top of your tin. Glue the flowers into place.
OK for the inside...
PAGES-
Take some carstock and cut out rectangular pieces that fit the inside of the tin less about an 1/8 inch both horizontally and vertically. I cut ten total pieces. Five pieces for each "book." Next, I made a total of eight small envelopes and tags to go between the pages. Four for each side. Take a 1 x 12 inch piece of Kraft cardstock and score in half and place Scor-Tape on each side of the score line. Cut this strip into 1 inch pieces. Take the 1 inch piece and place it in between each of the pages making a hinge.
HINGES-
Cut (2) 1-3/8 x 4 inch pieces of Kraft Cardstock. For one of the pieces score on the long side at 3/4 and then again at 1-1/2. For the second piece, score it at 3/4 and again at 1 inch. The 1 inch side goes on the left and the 1-1/2 to the right. Affix both of these strips at the 3/4 inch side to the inside of the tin pulling the strips to the outside of the box. Next take your page sets and tape/glue them to the strips butting them up next to the outside score lines. Repeat for other side.
Cut 2 inches of ribbon and fold in half and adhere first to the front side of the right side. Take your last 2 inches of ribbon and adhere this to the front left side.
Cut mats for all your pages. For mine it came out to be 2 inches by 3-3/8. Glue into place.
Embellish as desired. I think this would make a cool little gift for Mom's Day! A Great brag book full of your kids or grand kids pictures. Use the tags to journal what's seen in the pictures.
Well, That's It!! Hope you like it! Fun, fast and easy to make!
Thanks for Looking!
Jim
The Gentleman Crafter
P.S. Please forgive any typos. I will proof this tomorrow....Off to bed for now....
