Djibouti Treasure Tin Tutorial

Do you have one of those craft days where what you start doesn't want to be finished?  Yeah, me too.

We tried to make this Djibouti Treasure Tin, but I have to warn you, it took us two days. We wanted to jazz up an old Altoids tin into a business card holder by adding a Djibouti flag.  Now it's much easier to find in a purse.

We choose Dijbouti because it's flag has such beautiful colors. Plus we had never seen a Dijbouti craft before and thought it was about time for one on the internet.

Today was a cloudy, rainy day in Seattle and our latex paint did not dry in time for us to continue till the end.  So the final part we completed the next day. Now our tin is in mint condition and ready for use!

Djibouti Treasure Tin Tutorial

Supplies
Latex paint
Altoids tin
Star punch
Sponge brush
Paintbrush
Paint holder
Red, blue, green and white cardstock
Newspaper
Mod Podge

Eat all the mints in your Altoids tin, but not at all at once. If you are in a hurry to make your treasure tin, find another container for your mints and clean out the tin.  Lay out your newspaper and paint the top and sides of your tin with the latex paint.  We kept our lid on when we painted the sides so that the lid was able to close after the tin was dry.

Cut one strip of green and one strip of blue from cardstock.  To make the white triangle on the side of the flag, we just cut a corner of our cardstock.

Punch out a small star from the red.

This part you'll have to do the next day as the latex on the metal takes forever to dry. Since we'll be adding the cardstock to the top of our tin, make sure it's completely dry and free of debris before you add the Mod Podge.

Place a light coating of Mod Podge on the tin and a little more on the back of the cardstock.  Lay the blue cardstock on the top of the tin, closest to the hinges.  Do the same for the green cardstock.  It's okay if they overlap the tin edges.  Lay another thin layer of Mod Podge over both pieces of paper and add the white triangle on the left side of the tin.  Lay another layer thin layer of Mod Podge over that and add your star.  Let everything dry.

Once your flag layers are dry, take your scissors and trim off any excess paper around the edges.

Give your treasure tin out as a present, or hide it in the garden for someone to find.  But Mod Podge is not water proof, so if you want to protect your tin, make sure to place it in a plastic bag if you are burying it.