Church Mother's Day gifts

Talk about perfect timing! A box arrived in the mail yesterday with 6 empty Altoid tins from an evangelist we entertained last year who remembered that I craft with them. (He has a fabulous memory, especially considering he's 75 or so.) This was so nice because I love the tins but can't make myself even like the mints! They're way too strong for me.

So last night the church treasurer called and asked for my input on an idea she had for Mother's Day gifts for our church ladies. Usually we do the potted flower thing, but she wanted to do something different this year. She's not a mother, so she has no vested interest in this. Anyway, she wondered what I thought about $10 gift cards for Wal-Mart. I thought that was a fabulous idea! Not every church could do that, but we only have about 16 ladies to buy for.

The only thing she was concerned about was how to present them so they seemed as substantial as they really were. After all, a gift card is rather small, even if the value on it would get you three potted flowers, if you so desired.

So I mentioned to her that I had just enough tins (thanks to our evangelist friend) and I could make decorated tins to put the gift cards into. She thought that was a great idea, so I went ahead and made them up last night and this morning - all 16 of them! I was so excited and pleased with the finished product:




There are three different designs, mostly because I was working with paper and lace scraps. I think my favorite is the middle one (pink and black), but I really, really like them all. Can you tell my personality leans toward the Victorian era? I hope the ladies love them as much as I do!

I started out by printing Proverbs 31:30 onto a piece of vellum (free font: CAC Champagne), then cutting them into strips.

Then I traced the top of the lid onto the back of my decorative paper and cut that out.

Next I stamped the image at the bottom (one of my newest Studio G $1 stamps), adhered a strip of lace with Glue Dots (folding the raw edges around the back of the paper), attached the vellum Scripture quote with Xyron vellum adhesive and stamped the corner curliques (another of my newest Studio G $1 stamps). Since I was stamping partly on vellum, I decided to use StazOn ink so it wouldn't be so prone to smear.

After the ink dried, I used Glue Dots to adhere the paper top to the top of the tin.

Then I traced the bottom of the tin onto coordinating decorative paper, cut it out and adhered it with Glue Dots. This was necessary to cover the Nutrition Facts on the bottom of the tins. (You could also use a mixture of half-glue, half-water to adhere them. Just lightly coat both surfaces before slapping them together.)

And in case you're wondering, all the paper is from Anna Griffin. I love her paper line!