I like to do a bunch of tins at once, because it’s more efficient. Start by taping the tins shut, so that you don’t muck up the closure–you want the tins to be useable after you’ve painted/collaged/doodled on them:

Three gift tins, with the closures covered with masking tape

Six gift tins in a cardboard box

Now, spray paint as you like. Some spray paints will give you better coverage than others, but then you may like the effect of some transparency. I tend to like a variety of effects, so I used a matte white, a matte black, and a shiny (more translucent) red.

Next, print some of your favorite pictures from Flickr Commons. I like historical images of women, but you can use anything that suits your gifting needs: baseball players, for example, would be another good choice. Play with your printer settings if you want more sepia tones, or if you like higher contrast. Remember you don’t have to print onto white paper–colorful papers can give nice effects too. Cut out your images, mindful of the size of your tin’s sides.

Now the fun part: collage the cutout images onto the tin with Mod Podge or a similar product. After that’s completely dry, remove the tape, and add doodles with permanent markers. Your doodles don’t have to be elaborate! Try Xs, Os, radiating squiggles, stars…

Decorated gift tin, with collage and doodles

Finally, fill your tin. If your tin is just the right size, it will hold an impressive number of sharpies, for example, which is better than candy for some craft cabin denizens. Ahem.

Decorated gift tin filled with sharpie markers

Flickr Commons mages used on this tin and visible in this how-to include Bertha Wegmann from the Royal Library of Denmark, a woman and baby from the George Eastman House, and Miss Dee from the National Library of Ireland.

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view + comment on Flickr

view + comment on Flickr

view + comment on Flickr

view + comment on Flickr