Project 24 Week 27 – Altoids Tins Desk Accessories

Happy Sunday morning everyone!

Last summer I spotted some fun projects on Design*Sponge, made from recycled Altoids Tins.  I don’t exactly eat huge numbers of Altoids on a regular basis, so instead I rushed right out to purchase a few empty tins to play with.  I’ve been debating what to do with them, when I spotted this awesome project through Pinterest.  How adorable are these!!

I had some adhesive-backed cork sheeting left over from Project 14, and then I bought some alphabet letter stamps at Michaels (only my favorite store ever) and I had the perfect little desk organizers ever.  I even made a special pencil cup to match the set.

I labeled the two tins that I made ‘Paper clips’ and ‘Push pins’.  But I can think of a bunch of other things they could be labeled instead, such as Rubber Bands, Staples, Binder clips, Thumb tacks, Tape, Stamps or even Post-It Notes (the smallest size Post-Its would definitely fit in the tin.)  Also, I labeled the cup ‘Pencils’ but you could also label it Pens, Scissors, Writing Tools, Misc, or really anything you could want.  I’ve also decided these would be fun to sell in my Etsy store, and instead of trying to anticipate everyone’s desk needs, I can simply offer the option to chose custom words for both the tins and the cup.

I think it would also be fun to make a version of these tins that are painted with chalkboard paint instead of the cork, and then you could simply change the words on the tin whenever you reorganized your office supplies!

Overall this is a pretty straight forward project, I found it easiest to trace the top of the tin onto a piece of paper, which I could then use as a template.  Then because my cork still curved slightly from being on a roll, I found it easiest to stick it down onto the tin before stamping the words.  I had a bit of trouble at first with my stamps, and getting them to line up properly.  But then I discovered that if I made a small tick mark on the side of the rubber, aligned with the bottom edge of the letter, I could use that to roughly line each letter up with the next one.  (Needless to say, I practiced my words on a blank piece of paper before I actually started stamping the cork.  This was both to practice my stamping technique, and also to make sure that the words fit in the space I had.)

I’ve actually been wanting to buy these Alphabet letter stamps for a while, and now I can’t wait to do a whole bunch of projects with them!!  I can even imagine stamping out a whole quote, maybe on a larger cork board or some sort of decorative wall piece.  Who knows…  I also think they would fit just perfectly on popsicle sticks, so maybe there’s something to be done with that.  Who knows.

I think it would be fun to have a whole bunch of these on a desk, all neatly labeled and organized.  Plus, there’s just something so awesome and tangible about cork, isn’t there?  I don’t know why, but whenever I see something covered in cork it always catches my eye.  I mean you could even use these to pin little notes to yourself!  The possibilities are endless.  In fact, you could glue a super strong magnet on the back of each tin, and hang a whole bunch on a magnetic board.  That would look really adorable, and be a great way to keep an eye on all your necessary desk supplies.

I’m still trying to figure out some other uses for my collection of tins, so hopefully I’ll have another Altoids tin project for you soon.  For now, I leave you a picture of Basel, my 11 month old long haired dachshund puppy.  He always comes running whenever I sit down to take project photos, and tries to climb in my lap, but then after a few minutes he usually gets bored and retires to the sofa for a nap (where he’s shown here.)  

And on that note, I wish everyone a lovely Sunday, and a great start to the new week!  And if you feel your office needs a bit more organization, stop by my Etsy shop to purchase this great set!

Ciao, Allison (and Basel)