Altoid Mint Box Crafts
Altoid mints are packaged in small, hinged tin boxes. These boxes lend themselves to a multitude of uses. They are easily transformed using a variety of craft techniques and materials. Save your Altoid mint boxes to make an assortment of kits, storage containers and functional accessory items. Decorate them using your preferred medium to create miniature displays with a functional purpose.
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Altered Art
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Turn an Altoid mint box into a work of altered art, using any medium you want to work with. Use clay to create embellishments, such as legs, handles or dangling charms. Punch holes in the tin to add beads, keys or chains. Create a collage or shadow box. Decoupage both the inside and outside of a tin and add small objects, such as miniature hinges and closures for dimension. Punch holes to dangle beads and to suspend the piece from a chain. Alternatively, add magnets to the back or stand open on a desktop to display.
Personal Accessories
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Use the mint box to create fashionable accessories to carry cell phones and other small electronics. Cover the lid of a tin with clay, adding texture with stamps or texture sheets, or create colorful clay canes to tile the surface. Use the tin to hold hair accessories, jewelry, change or other personal items in your work desk or glove compartment. Make decorative tins as gifts for friends and family to keep gum, candy or medications in a purse or car. Cover the tins to make decorative packaging to present gift cards, cash or any small gifts.
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Kits
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Create a variety of handy miniature kits. Make a first-aid kit with bandages, alcohol pads, a tube of antibacterial ointment and tweezers for splinter removal. Keep it in the glove compartment for emergencies. Make a travel chalkboard by painting the inside of the lid and bottom with chalkboard paint. Add a few small pieces of chalk to entertain kids while driving. Paint the bottom and decoupage the top of tins to make opening easy, or decorate the outside with stickers for kids. Use clay to create a decorative lid and paint the base, then line the inside with fabric for a mini sewing kit to keep at work, in a gym locker or in your car. Keep needles, thread, pins and a small bottle of fabric glue inside.
Containers
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Cover the tins with a coat of paint to keep an assortment of nails, screws and other small hardware handy. Line the inside with a layer of felt to store delicate items like jewelry supplies, beads or other small craft embellishments. Make mini tackle boxes for the fisherman in your life by cutting thin wood into strips and gluing the strips to the inside of the tin to create compartments. Melt used candles and pour into the tin, add one or two wicks and you have a portable candle to keep in a drawer for emergencies.
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