I've always had a fondness for little trinket boxes, where you can stash tiny treasures.

Altoid tins are just cool. Every time I recycled one, I cringed. Recycling is good, but
repurposing is better!

Surely, there must be
something I can do with an Altoid Tin? Time to research the internet and invoke the Muse!

Let's see.....seasonal scrap paper, vintage millinery and lace, and a vintage spool painted and glittered a sparkly red....

a miniature vintage snowman cup cake topper and flowers, an old Christmas card for the background scenery, pretty pearls, faux snow, old tinsel, and a vintage cardboard Santa Claus......

and vintage candy-cane colored pipe cleaners to frame it. What do you think of my little piece? Oh! That was too much fun! How about another?!

This time, I'll keep the lid attached.

I picked up a pack of old cardboard Santas at an antique shop this past winter for a song. I knew they'd come in handy! He holds a mini bottle brush tree that I bleached, dyed a very chic pink, and decorated with teeny-weeny little beads. An old Christmas card is used for background scenery and is lined with a silver chenille stem. A miniature snowman and sled make the perfect accents!

After lining the lid with green plaid scrap paper, I highlighted it with vintage garland. Next, I cut out "Jingle Bells" from antique sheet music and I topped it off with vintage wedding bells.

keeping with the integrity of the Altoid tin, I decided not to decorate the outside of it.

My nosy little girl had to see what all the fun was about and asked if she could make a tin with me, but wanted it to be a Halloween theme.

Mary and I put this one together using Halloween scrap paper for the background, Halloween graphics were cut out from one of my miniature magazines, a paper clay face of the moon (I molded from an antique sun pin), rusty nails for a fence, and silver garland.

The background on this side is taken from a photo of the Headless Horseman in a graveyard! We cut out more graphics from vintage Halloween cards for the cat and Halloween greeting. Mary found the black glittered bat and pumpkin in my stash of paper clay miniatures. I like to make things ahead of time, thinking I'll use them at one point.

I think Mary's getting addicted. She did this one all by herself afterwards and then another one last night, complete with a hand-drawn bird popping out of the tin.

As a mom and an artist, it's thrilling to see the little wheels spinning in her head as she creates her own pieces. I enjoy watching her try to figure out how things need to be applied correctly in order to work (eg: She learned yesterday that tape isn't strong enough to hold a spool to a tin!) and also how she likes to create things that "look pretty" or "cute". Pretty and cute are very important to a seven-year-old little girl!