Halloween Altered Altoid Tin Album by Betsy Skagen

Spooky things come in small packages. Take for example this Altoid tin that I altered into a Halloween mini album.

I just love how the spider casts his shadow over the baby doll.  

The raven must have found some rotting treat still attached to the skull that he wanted to peck at. 

Tutorial to make the Halloween Altered Altoid Tin Album

 1. Begin by painting the MINI BOOK COVER, Altoid Insert Fairy Tale Frames, and Spider and Owl Insets (new to gslcuts and coming soon) with black acrylic paint. Let dry.

2. Adhere the Owl and Spider insets to the back of the fairy tale frames, cut off anything extending beyond the frame. Cover these units with black glitter. 

3. Use a paper towel to rub Orange Peel Silks onto the book cover and back, avoiding the inlaid pattern. (Design Team Member Lora Mahaffey came up with this great idea!) When dry, repeat with Persimmon Silks. Then touch up the inset pattern with a black pen.

4. I forgot to photograph this next step, but take the labels from the Fairy Tale Frames and heat emboss them with copper embossing powder and ultra thick black embossing enamel. Continue to build up embossing layers and colors until you are satisfied with the results. 

5. Print spooky messages on your printer, cut into strips and age with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Attach the messages to the embossed labels and add a black string to the ones that will hang loose before adhering the main label to the front book cover. 

6. Take apart an Altoid tin. Paint both halves with black paint. 

7. When dry add a coat of Quinacridone Gold acrylic paint. 

8. Trace the bottom of the tin onto two pieces of Halloween scrapbook paper, cut out and adhere to the inside of your tin. Add additional images.  Dip a pencil eraser in orange paint to add polka dots. Add orange glitter glue to the baby's eyes. This photo does not show it, but I also layered additional spooky images (two moons and a raven) with three-dimensional foam tape.

9. Cut 3/4" wide strips of Halloween cardstock and adhere to both the interior and exterior sides. The paper I used for the exterior actually had white skulls and I used orange ink to color them orange. 

10. Adhere the black glitter fairy tale frame inserts to the inside. 

11. You can see from the picture that I adhered the hinges before adding the fairy tale inserts. This ended up being a mistake so make sure you add the inserts first. Stain some miniature hinges with mushroom-colored alcohol ink and adhere the hinges to the exterior of the tin. Then rub random spots of black ink on the cardstock used on the exterior of the tin. 

12. Adhere the front and back book covers and add paper ribbon around the sides of the book.  

It is only July, but if you want to make crafts for Halloween, it will soon be time to begin. I hope you give an altered Altoid tin a try! -Betsy

Great Stuff

Altoid Insert Fairy Tale Frames

Mini Book cover..............  These are all

Spider Inset --...................  new to Gslcuts and 

Owl Branch Inset................will be COMING SOON so don't forget to keep checking

Altoid tin  

Spooky Windows Collage Sheet

Assorted Halloween cardstock

Two hinges

Beacon Adhesive

Black glitter

Black embossing power

Copper embossing powder

Embossing stamp pad

Quinacridone gold acrylic paint

Black acrylic paint

ColourArte Orange Peel Silks 

ColourArte Persimmon Silks 

Mushroom colored alcohol ink

Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Black Soot Distress Ink

Orange ink

Orange paper ribbon