Saturday, April 21, 2012

Altoid Tins... Great Invention, or GREATEST Invention?

Does anyone else have a meeeellion Altoid tins?

I do, and after seeing this boss Pin on Pinterest about making art tins --


-- I decided to make some of my own.

But I wanted to do something a wee different.

It was after finding out that ConTact brand paper made
CHALKBOARD!!! sticky paper that I decided to add that twist.

So I bought out Joann's colored chalk...


... made some wee blank coloring books...


... filled the tins with crayons, and placed the ConTact paper on the lid and bottom.


I sewed a little sleeve (which doubles as a chalk eraser) for a single piece of white chalk,
and they fit nicely inside.

I also flipped over the tin and drew a grid for tic-tac-toe, using a silver Sharpie
so it wouldn't have to be re-drawn every time.


But... where's the colored chalk?

Sigh...

I didn't realize until after reading a very helpful review on Amazon
that the chalkboard had to be CURED by rubbing chalk all over it and erasing it,
so it would "take" chalk.

I thought the colored chalk wasn't working, and did the whole crayon thing, instead.
I only used the lone white chalk that DID seem to be working.

To be fair to me, even after curing, it doesn't seem like colored chalk
shows up as well as white.  So maybe, if you're planning a craft with the stuff, 
I can send you a square of it to play around with BEFORE you invest in a whole roll.


(Seriously, let me know your address.  I'll send you a bit of this.)

Anyhoo!  It still looks cool, right?
I have one I carry around at school, and I use it with my student
when he's having a hard time waiting during an assembly or fire drill.

I also sold a few at a craft fair; wouldn't they make a nice little gift from grandma or auntie,
with a crisp fiver slipped in with the chalk and coloring book?


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