Sometimes, us creative people, have ideas that come out better in our head, than they do in real life! Agree? But this project of tissued decorative storage tins was the opposite. On the one hand, it may have been just a tad more difficult than I had imagined. Only because I should have remembered how tissue paper and I, can go round and round and round. We just don’t seem to get along. I normally do not have the patience for the stuff, and end up making the tissue a wrinkled mess. So much so, that I refer to my husband, to put the tissue in gift bags if I can, and he also is so kind, as to do all of my packaging for my portrait photography orders for my clients. But on the other hand, these tissued tins actually came out way nicer than I expected! I’d have to say the credit for that probably goes to Modge Podge. Love that stuff!
This idea is one I came up with as homemade gifts for our nieces & nephews, for Christmas 2010, as well as for my God-Daughter {Ju}. (You all know her by now, right?) I thought they would be cool for them to keep little treasures & trinkets in, in their rooms, or even for my oldest nephew/God-Son to keep change or what-not in in his Jeep.
Here’s all you need!
As well as an x-acto knife or razor blade of some sort (not shown), and possibly a little patience, if you are like I am with tissue paper. If you don’t need the patience…..well I’m happy for you! : )
I was so thrilled to find such bold & funky designer tissue paper, at The Dollar Store!…. that I thought was just perfect for the age range of the kids, from elementary school to teens, and for both the boys and the girls as well. The silver sticky elements I got in the scrapbooking section of Michael’s Arts & Crafts.
I found the tins shown, at Michael’s Arts & Crafts.
They had a variety of shapes and sizes to choose from.
Modge Podge and foam brushes came from the same place.
So this is how this is done:
With your foam brush, you begin by Modge Podging the inside of one tin, and then layer it with the tissue design you would like on the inside.
You really only want to Modge Podge up to the lip of the inside of the tin before laying on the tissue, but let the tissue overlap from there, for now. Just carefully rip off or cut the excess with scissors. Then leave to dry. We’ll get to how to finish it off in a minute or 2.
Now I am telling you right now, there is no way for the tissue to come out perfectly smooth. Most especially on the inside, where you virtually have to stuff the tissue in there. But do be careful not to tear the tissue or poke a hole in it. However, IF you do by accident, (as I did more than once (yes, the patience with tissue issue…..) it’s not that hard to cover it up, or manipulate the tissue to make the hole not show. Honestly, it’s just the insides of the tins that are the hardest part of the whole project.
Do the outside of the tin cover, in much the same way. Again, only Modge Podge to the lip of the lid, then apply the tissue. Now getting a little (Modge Podge) glue where it shouldn’t be, and the tissue sticking to it, is no big deal. It can be scraped off easily enough once dry.
Just rough trim it with your x-acto blade, and then leave to dry. If you are trimming first before it really sits to dry, just make sure you don’t drag-rip the tissue. Your blade will get Modge Podge on it, so you’ll want to try to keep it clean too.
Now you can do the outside of the tin container the same way: Apply the Modge Podge, and then apply the tissue, smoothing it all as best you can. Agai…wrinkled are going to happen here and there.
It was really fun to have these co-ordinating designs to work with. (Pay no mind to my BlackBerry over there. Always nearby, and forever bLiNkInG!)
Now, in terms of cleaning them up, I found an x-acto knife to be a handy little tool! I trimmed off the excess tissue, by running the sharp point of the blade, right in the groove of the lips. If you aren’t sure exactly where or how I mean, just inspect the earlier photo above of the bare tins, and the ones coming up, and think about how the tin is put together. You can’t have tissue anywhere, where the tin cover and container need to fit together. Just a little common sense I dug up there. ; )
OK, so after each tissued piece is dry, and you have trimmed the excess tissue off everywhere, you then need to put a coat of Modge Podge over all of the tissue layers, inside and out! I did second coats of Modge Podge too, letting them dry before coats, and I recommend doing that. That is what gives the tins a finished look, once they are dried, and keeps the tissue surfaces protected. Granted, now that the tissue is trimmed and there is tin lips exposed, you want to try and apply the Modge Podge a little more carefully, as to not get glue all over the naked tin parts . But again, if any gets on the bare tin edges, once it is dry, it scrapes right off like any glue would. Modge Podging the inside of the tissued tins are probably the hardest to do with your foam brushes, only because you’ll see it puddles a little where folds and creases of the tissue are. It looks a mess at first. But that is ok…..just spread it out best you can, because the Modge Podge really dries hard and clear. You are using the foam brush to sort of stick down and smooth out any wrinkled tissue as well, as you work. You’ll be amazed how good it starts to look as the Modge Podge dries clear.
I wanted to personalize them, so I had hubby cut their initials out of sliver mylar vinyl. Then used the decorative sticky elements, to add a little extra bling. Finally, I went right over the mylar and the elements on the covers, with another coat of Modge Podge. Honestly, these came out slick & with a bit of sheen, seeing as though I used the glossy Modge Podge.
I LOVE how they came out, and I am about to show you a whole bunch more of photos, so you really can get the idea. (And, o.k., so I can show them off a little more.)
Bold Black & white for the boys……bright happy colors for the girls.
Like? Love? Let me know what you think!
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