Need ideas for decorating cookie tins!

[Kamie]

I would like to take some old cookie tins and jazz them up a bit for the holidays to give as gifts. Any idea's?

[beemama]

You could paint them gold or silver, let dry then paint them w/slightly watered down glue & dust them w/beads, glitter, sequins. You might want to spray on a clearcoat of something to seal it in.

Or maybe collages... have any old Christmas cards around?

You could also cover them w/paper bag material.... crinkle the bags up & tear into strips... glue on. Then you could decorate them w/whatever suits you.

I have all of these ideas but have never actually decorated tins... so I'm not sure if my projects would work. I am doing the first idea on paper mache & so far, so good!

[ReuseCrafter]

I like to decoupage them with whatever is at hand or may fit a theme. I have used gift wrap paper, tissue paper, hand made papers, old maps, old sheet music, etc. If you use the brown bags as mentioned above, the thinner lunch sacks work better than grocery bags. You don't have to buy decoupage, just thin down glue (preferably tacky glue) about 50% water. A sponge brush and fingers work great.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by beemama

You could paint them gold or silver, let dry then paint them w/slightly watered down glue & dust them w/beads, glitter, sequins. You might want to spray on a clearcoat of something to seal it in.

Or maybe collages... have any old Christmas cards around?

You could also cover them w/paper bag material.... crinkle the bags up & tear into strips... glue on. Then you could decorate them w/whatever suits you.

I have all of these ideas but have never actually decorated tins... so I'm not sure if my projects would work. I am doing the first idea on paper mache & so far, so good!

What kind of paint would you use? I tried this with craft acrylic and it scratched off just looking at it.

[ReuseCrafter]

Spray paint works best, and the ones for applying to metal work especially well.

If you want to use acrylic craft paints, you can buy paint that is specially formulated to be used on metals. They are usually in with the outdoor acrylic paints. For example, at Michael's craft store, they separate from the other acrylic paints, and sold over with the terra cotta pots. They are marketed for painting things like metal watering cans, etc. Or you can buy a conditioner (sold in the craft paint section) to apply to the metal first.

Make sure the surface is well cleaned and dried before painting. You can also sand very lightly to take the slippery surface off the tins so the paint will adhere better.