Altoid Tin Wallet

Altoid tin wallets are a fun, cute, cheap, and creative way to store your small trinkets, Chapstick, earbuds, and even bits of change without anyone being the wiser. Although there are many cute and fun wallets out there on the market, thieves and snoopers will know exactly what they are, a wallet. With an Altoid tin wallet, no one will open up a tin of mints whilst trying to find some cash or your belongings. Furthermore the Altoid wallets are super customizable and unique to every person!

To make this craft readers will need the following:

1. A clean work station
2. Altoid Tin
3. Soap and water
4. Colorful background paper
5. Elmer's glue, glue stick, and/or hot glue
6. Scissors
7. A pen or pencil
8. Charms to decorate and customize your tin wallet

Locate the Altoid tin that will be used. If a new one is purchased, either wait until all the mints have been eaten or transfer the mints into a separate container to eat later.

If one is laying around, ensure the tin will still properly open and close.

For my example, I decided to buy a new one.

Wash the tin with some warm water and soap to clean off any mint dust left behind to ensure the glue will adhere properly.

Dry it with a paper towel to remove any moister.

While washing the tin, ensure that the work space is clutter-free and clean as well!

Go onto Pinterest and type “DIY Altoid tin crafts” into the search bar for ideas and inspiration for the project.

If you already know the direction you want to take, great!

The aesthetic will determine the materials used for the tin wallet. This is why this decision is important before collecting or buying charms and other decorative material.

Gather the materials needed for the craft with the aesthetic in mind. These can be found around the house or purchased at a craft supply store.

For example, I will be doing a southern goth theme which means my colors will be beige, brass, and red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag.

The items I will be using are lace, a cross from a rosary, washy tape, homemade paper, a dried flower, a torn bit from a magazine, chain loops, a bit of chain from a rosary, and some stick on pearls.

Start by cutting out the shape of the Altoid tin onto the decorative paper. This can be done by tracing the shape with a pen or pencil and following the line while cutting.

It doesn't matter which side of the paper is traced on. While cutting, make sure to follow just inside the lines. This ensures it will fit snuggly inside the tin.

Glue each piece of background paper on either side of the inside of the tin. Make sure to smear the glue on both the backside of the paper and the tin.

Glue sticks are the best option to adhere the paper to the tin. Elmer's glue tends to be too wet and messy but it still works as a great option!

While adhering the paper, make sure to align it nicely and try to avoid air bubbles or too much glue.

Design the layout while the glue from the background paper is drying.

Since a glue stick was used in the example, the paper was already dry thus there was no issue designing the layout inside the tin.

If Elmer's glue is used, the paper may be too wet to design inside the tin. Therefore, an option is to trace the shape of the tin onto a scrap piece of paper and design the layout on that instead.

Be careful not to choose anything too large or chunky! This will limit the amount of space available inside of the tin wallet.

Glue on the designed layout once the glue has dried from the background paper. Periodically close the tin to ensure none of the decorative pieces prevent the tin wallet from closing properly.

When doing so, be careful to work from the back to the front. It is always possible to place items on top of each other, but not underneath.

For flat objects, like lace and magazine scraps, glue sticks work best. However, for the chunkier items such as the cross, rosary chain, and flower, the hot glue gun is a better option.

In the example, I later decided to add lace around the edge of the bottom section of my tin as well as some pearls and a dried flower. It is never too late to add some extra details to the layout.

Collect the items that will be kept in the tin wallet and ensure they will fit as the glue dries.

Look inside purses or bags for the small objects that usually fall to the bottom; these are perfect items to keep safe inside the wallet.

In my example, that was my lighter, a hair tie, a hair clip, some loose change, a piece of sea glass, and my bracelets.

Assemble the wallet once all the glue is dry.

Be careful not to be too rough or to knock any of the decorative pieces off while placing the items inside.

The items might have to rearranged to ensure they securely and safely fit inside.

Once all the items are neatly packed, make certain the tin properly closes.

Congrats, the project is finished! You can now enjoy and show off your super awesome and cool Altoid tin wallet to all of your friends!