After Christmas we found several sizes of tins for only $.25 in the clearance aisle. Well yeah, look at it--it looks like it's worth about a quarter. But we're going to make it look like a million bucks.
Altered Tin Tutorial
What you'll need:
*Tin of your choice
*Sand paper
*Acrylic paint
*Mod Podge (or any other decoupage medium)
*Foam brushes
*Patterned paper
*Scissors
*Brayer (optional--for smoothing out wrinkles in the paper)
1. Sand your tin all over--this will help the paint adhere better.
2. Paint the outside of the tin with acrylic paint. Let it dry and apply additional coats if needed (this pink one took three coats to cover up the red plaid). We also painted the rim of the tin's lid. If you like, once the paint is completely dry you can sand the edges for a distressed, shabby-chic look as well.
3. Trace the tin on your patterned paper. Cut it out, just inside your line.
4. Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge (decoupage medium) to the back of the paper with a foam brush.
5. Position the paper on the tin's lid and use a brayer or the side of your hand to smooth out any wrinkles. Allow to air dry for about 30 minutes before proceeding.
6. Once you've given it time to dry, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge over entire outside of tin, everywhere you have painted or adhered paper. This will protect the paper and keep the paint from scratching off.
7. Line with tissue paper and fill with cookies, then replace lid and tie with a ribbon and tag (or don't). Give it away before you're tempted to eat them all yourself!
And cookies aren't the only thing you can put in your tins for a sweet Valentine gift. How about candy or a stack of love coupons?
We also loved this cool way to alter larger tins (you know, the kind that come filled with flavored popcorn?). Pink & Polka Dot made gorgeous canisters out of them with just a stencil and some spray paint!
If you can't find cheap or used tins to re-purpose, check out Specialty Bottle for tons of different shaped "naked" tins.
Here's the easy shortbread recipe. If you don't like the traditional taste of shortbread, try leaving out the almost extract. Then it's more like a crunchy, yet buttery, sugar cookie. Dipped in chocolate. Either way, it's heaven.
Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Recipe
4 cups flour
1 lb. butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1 bag Wilton Candy Melts or similar melting chocolate (we like "light cocoa" flavor)
Cream the butter and sugar, then add flour and mix well. Roll out on a lightly floured
surface and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 300 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
(Start checking after about 20 minutes. You want them to be just barely browning
around the edges.) Yields about 3 dozen cookies, depending on size of your cookie cutter.
Allow cookies to cool. Melt chocolate according to package directions. Dip half of each cookie in chocolate and place on wax paper to cool. When you start running low on chocolate, use a spoon to pour chocolate over cookies. Use the back of the spoon to smooth chocolate around until well-covered. Try not to eat too many before you pack them in your tins! They're addictive!
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39 Responses to “chocolate dipped cookies + an altered tin = heaven”
What a fantastic post! Thank you. This is a wonderful idea for using all the 'dead ugly' tins that seem to accumulate around our place. Thanks so much for taking the time to show us 'how to'.
Such a great idea, i didn't know you could use mod-padge on tim, gonna be trying that!
Love it, love it! Just the best idea for a great valentine's container. Bravo! xo, suzy
this bird wants one of those tins - right now!
so clever and full of heart.
Such a cute idea!!
What a great idea for the tins! Now I wish I would have stocked up after Christmas. This would be so great for Valentine's treats. The cookies look FAB! I am going to have to try this recipe. I love anything you can dip in chocolate.
Thank you, thank you, what an action packed post!! I'm thrilled to have instructions for altering tins, I have a lot of thrift store tins just waiting to be beautified!
I shared your upcycling on my blog today! I love it ;) p.s. I have nominated you for The Lemonade Award. Thank you for being SO inspiring! Grab your award on my blog.. http://compulsivecrafter.blogspot.com/ <3
What a wonderful idea!
Love your blog!
Y'all are brilliant! Why didn't I think of that myself?! Thank you so much!
Thank you for all your gorgeous ideas! It's always a pleasure reading your posts!
Excellent! I love what you did with the tins and of course the cookies look delicious. I am definitely going to think about trying this now and saving this idea for future holidays/gifts.
Thanks for posting such a lovely craft and recipe.
How CUTE! I love it..now I wish I would have bought up all the $0.50 tins from Wal-Mart during their after Christmas sell! I'll have to remember this one!!
looks awesome!
I need to go dig out some cookie tins....
Thanks for the inspiration
I never thought of re-doing a tin! Awesome idea!
what an incredibly cool, fun idea. i did love the plaid on the side of the santa tin however. this is definitely a noteworthy project. have to remember to look out for tins. thank you so much for this idea and all of the ideas you ladies share with us.
barbara brown
Oh I am so all about altered things, love the tin idea!
I'm such a big fan of your blog, so it was so thrilling to see you stopped by to see my button pillow, thanks so much!
Another gal took the idea and made a cute door knob hanging pillow. So the idea looks great on a pillow, door knob hanger, or card. Buttons, they're a good thing for crafting ☺
Fab idea! now all the tins that I've got stashed away can be made beautiful. The biscuit recipe looks yummy too!
Great post! I am loving anything that makes a nice gift on the cheep. I have never been able to toss a tin in the bin now I can use them as gifts. Thanks!!
Those cookies look sooooo good. I'll try to make them!!
Wonderful idea... look so lovely and yummy!
What a great idea! Thanks so much for all the effort you put forth, it definitely doesn't go unnoticed or appreciated. Thanks.
Oh- I think I have enough stuff ON HAND to do 2 of those...Thanks!
Love the tin! Don't we all have tons of those hanging around and you've made them look a million times prettier!
-Sarah from Create Studio
www.createstudio.blogspot.com
Those tins are great. I especially like the one with the ribbon.
Just awarded you a Kreativ blogger award. Check out by post for details.
YUM! I don't know anyone who wouldn't love to receive that! I'll be linking.
Uber cute. We've been dipping chocolate this past week too! We love this - super cute tins. :)
We're linking you!
Annie
No Fuss Fabulous
The tins look gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing how to do this!! I am definitely going to have to try it!!
Those turned out darling!
And I will definitely have to make some of those cookies!
hi ya
love this and have linked to your project.
I hope that's ok.
p
making mini albums
mini album blog
Ooh these tins are so cute!! Thanks for sharing this great idea and the great recipe!
Thanks for the cookie recipe. I made a vegan version.
I love those tins!
a good tip for painting lighter colours over a darker color or a pattern is to do a basecoat in Flesh Tan (or any light tannish colour, but Flesh Tan works best) -- just one coat, it should cover the underlying color/pattern quite well :)
Cool gift ideas! Glad I saw this post. I've got an idea. Looking forward for your next post. Keep posting.
gift to Philippines
I thought your tutorial was one of the lovelier ones on this project online, so have linked to it as an example here.
What a great idea. I plan on using a sugar cookie recipe to do the same thing with my grandson. I am not big on shortbread ones. I might do the reverse by making choc. and dip in white. You could also use a bright pink or red melting candy by adding a little food coloring to the white.
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