Tin Series – Jewelry Case

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Tin Cases (Or Altoid Cases) can be repurposed for many things, this series is all about finding new ways to use them!  

Total Project Time: 15~20 minutes

I love small things and tin cases fit well into this category. There are so many possibilities of things that can be done with tin cases. My first endeavor in this series is a jewelry case! I found that I had a lot of loose earrings, and I needed a place to store them. I was also curious if this would be good for rings (it did not have the depth for that though). This project was simple and took very few supplies but it just perfect for what I needed!

Check out the Craft section of MCG for more unlimited ideas.

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Supplies

This project doesn’t take many supplies, what I found works best is:

• Fleece (about 6 cm by 36 cm with a little bit extra)
• Glue Gun
• Tin
• Sharpie (Fine Point)

I prefer a black Fleece because it helps showcase the jewelry and makes it pop but any color can be used. The sharpie is used for design on the outside but it’s okay to get creative! I know I had a blank canvas to work with but if you’re upcycling a tin then stickers or paint might be preferred.

Process

I will say, doing this was much easier than expected especially once I realized that using a glue gun was the way to go instead of sewing. While the glue gun is heating up, we can prepare the fabric. I tried my best to cut the fabric to the width of the tin and I kind of just estimated how long I would need it to be. The strip ended up being a little long but there are always other uses.

With the glue gun ready to go, I started to roll the fabric up in a tight roll. I will admit, this part felt tricky because the roll never felt as tight as I wanted it to be. One I got it where I wanted (the roll was about ¾ the height of the tin), I put down a line of hot glue and squished it together. As always, be careful around these things – they can cause burns. Once the glue has adhered to the fabric, the roll can be cut from the strip of fabric.

If I was smart, I would have made all the rolls at once to make sure they were all the same size. But I decided to glue the first roll into the tin to see if I liked the size first. The roll turned out to be a little too long for the tin, so I had to trim the roll before placing it inside the tin. Hot glue is once again used to attach the fabric roll into the tin. You want to place the roll seam side down into the tin.

The whole project took six rolls to be glued inside of the tin. I decided to do a drawing on the outside which I did with a sharpie marker. This can also be done with paint or stickers; decorations are whatever you prefer! And then it is ready to use!

Lessons

Go One Step at a Time

It’s extremely easy to get ahead of yourself when doing projects and it can cause some issues. In this case, it would the fact that I didn’t standardize my fabric rolls. I did one and glued it into the tin. I should have done all the rolls at once to make them even. This definitely falls under the slogan “Measure twice, Cut once”.

Quick Recipe