Altoids Tin Organizers

I am flying out tonight for a two week trip to Europe, so I haven’t had a chance to do any large scale projects this past week, but I have been playing around with my latest craft supply obsession, Washi Tape!  And so I thought I’d quickly show you two small projects I made recently that feature both Washi Tape and Altoids Tins, another favorite supply of mine.  Both projects were inspired by Pinterest, though with my own design flavor.  Above you’ll see a cute stack of tins that I have for holding small desk supplies.  I saw this project on Pinterest when searching for desk organization ideas, but the original post was using actual recycled tins (as opposed to my new and unused silver ones that I had previously purchased in bulk for another project idea.) They also had them labeled with a computer label maker, but I thought that using the Washi Tape would result in a much cuter and more colorful bunch of tins!  The nice thing about this project is that they are all ready to be put into a drawer, stacked on their side with the label edge facing up.  I don’t have a desk drawer to put them in, but you can imagine what it would look like hopefully.  To get the lettering so perfectly drawn I simply typed out the text I wanted on my computer, and then stuck the piece of tape directly onto the screen and traced the text with a thin Sharpie.  The result is a concept similar to my new blog header design, a wonderful combination of computer perfection with hand-drawn aesthetics.  I originally had tried making them using a faux calligraphy style that I learned from Lindsey over at The Postman’s Knock but ultimately that looked a bit too girly for me (I was also using the pink Washi Tape at first) and I think this text appeals more to the architect side of me.  The beauty is that you can grow your collection of tins as you find new specific needs.  I already have a couple more label ideas in mind.

The second project was also inspired by Pinterest, and that is to create a little case for earbud headphones, so they don’t get damaged or tangled in a purse.  I LOVE this idea, because I am always pulling out a snarl of headphone wires from the very bottom of my bag, and since I’m about to be traveling I figured this was the perfect trip prep project.  I was originally just going to decorate the tin with the Washi Tape, but then I thought it looked a bit plain, plus I was was obsessing over the patterned tape and how it didn’t actually line up, and so I pulled out my Sharpie again and started doodling and that’s when I drew the headphone graphic, and then decided to use the pink stripe as a label.  (Same technique, tape on computer screen to trace the text.)  We’ll see how well my new little tin works, but I certainly am pretty happy with the final visual effect!

I’ll be back in a few weeks with a new project, for now I hope everyone is enjoying the last bit of summer, and I’d love to hear about any quick organization projects you might have undertaken recently.  I’ve especially been on a summer cleaning kick before school starts again, so these sorts of projects were just what the doctor ordered for my cleaning/organizing obsession!

Ciao, Allison