the hybrid chick

I put some gift certificates in this tin that I made for my husband’s Christmas stocking this year. This would be a fun way to give a gift card, candy, even jewelry. I found my little tin at Trader Joe’s and it used to be full of dark chocolate. My husband doesn’t like chocolate though, so I had to eat it all before I could use the tin. Here’s a list of the supplies I used:

Supply List:
mint/candy tin
Joyful Paper Pack by Kelley Mickus
Ornamentals Brush Pack by Roben-Marie Designs
TK Flourish font by TK Whimsy
Epson Premium Matte Photo Paper
I used my Cuttlebug to cut out the circles, but you could also use a pair of scissors
Mono Adhesive Permanent & Mini Glue Dots (or whatever adhesive you like to use)
Making Memories paint
sandpaper
embellishments, I used ribbon from Michaels, Prima flowers, Martha Stewart glitter and some brads

The first thing I did is grab a piece of sandpaper and go to work on the tin. I’ve found that the paint seems to stick better for me when the metal has been roughed up a little bit. Then I wiped it down with a wet paper towel, and set it aside to dry while I gathered up the rest of the supplies I thought I’d use. I also measured the tin to determine what size my circle would need to be to fit easily inside.

Next I squeezed some of the paint onto a scrap piece of plastic and grabbed one of my foam brushes and put on the first coat of paint, trying to be careful not to get any on the see-through part of the lid. I did keep my damp paper towel handy to clean up the spots where I got a little messy.

While the first coat was drying, I opened a new 8 1/2 by 11 inch document in photoshop, and then created my circle masks. I was able to fit four per page, and clipped a different one of the Joyful papers to each. Then I added a smaller circle in the middle of each of the big circles with a light colored paper clipped to it. On top of these circles I added the text, using the TKFlourish font. Once I had all my circles created, I printed off the sheets and added a second coat of paint to the tin. As it was drying, I cut out all my circles and put a coat of Mod Podge on them. I also used the Mod Podge to affix the top and bottom covers to the tin.

I probably should have let everything dry overnight, but as usual, I was running behind so I got out my heat gun to try to set the paint and glue faster. When it seemed dry to the touch, I added some glue pen and glitter to the top stripes, and a prima flower and leaf. Then I cut a scalloped circle with my cuttlebug to add around the outside edge. Another flower on the inside cover and a ribbon tied around the outside finished it off. From start to finish it only took a couple of hours to make, so there’s plenty of time left for you to make your own little gift tin for someone special this Christmas!

Other Articles by Jessica Pranaitis:

• Gallery Finds - March 10th, 2010
• Chinese Takeout Container - February 3rd, 2010
• Thanksgiving Tree - November 6th, 2009
• Stamping Digitally - October 11th, 2009
• Memory Verse Holder - September 22nd, 2009