My PaperTrey exclusive heart tins arrived yesterday--what fun they were to play with! I snapped a couple of pictures as I was covering the large heart tin because I thought that it might save some of you from needing to reinvent the wheel. I
didn't take pictures of the whole process, but I took pictures of the more unusual parts. I'll try to explain the rest as well.
First, set the bottom of your large heart box on the back side of a sheet of patterned paper. (The paper-weight patterned paper is easier to work with than the cardstock-weight.) Draw an outline around your tin bottom as close to the edge as you can. Carefully cut out the heart and lay it right side up on top of your lid. It should be about the perfect size if you have trimmed right on your line.
Carefully holding the heart in place, feel for the groove in the metal right next to the window. Now take a small embossing stylus and put it in the groove. Slowly and carefully follow the groove around the tin. (You are embossing a track that you will follow when you cut the window out of your paper.) Can you see the track in the picture to the left? By the way, I moved the patterned paper slightly so that you could see the tin below it. It was exactly in place when I embossed the track. Please note: Before you start embossing, make sure that you are in between the two metal pieces; you don't want to emboss the window.
After you have the track embossed all the way around, emboss back over your groove several times to get a nice, deep track. This will help you later. Remove your heart from the top of the tin and use small, sharp scissors to cut right in the deepest valley of your track.
Now take the outline of the heart and dry-fit it to the box. (If it isn't perfect, fix it before you add any adhesive.) While I used my Xyron to adhere the band around the outside of the tin, I was a little hesitant to use it for the tin top. Permanent Xyron isn't meant to be forgiving, and you may well need to adjust the heart after you lay it down. For that reason, I chose Tombow Mono Multi adhesive. I ran a thin line of it around both the inner and outer edges of my tin's lid, then I carefully laid the heart in place. I had a few seconds to shimmy it into the perfect position before the glue started holding.
Because you have a small lip that turns down where it was embossed, you should be able to get a perfect inner edge. Gently run your fingernail or a very small embossing stylus down that same track. Your paper should go right down into the track. (Ahhhh, I love it when a plan comes together!) If your outside edge isn't perfect (or even if it is) you can take a piece of sand paper and sand the outer edge. This whole process didn't take long--I'd say less than 10 minutes to get the lid right, and that was figuring it out as I went.
Covering the rest of the tin is a breeze. If you have redline or super sticky tape, run a length of it around the tin top's outer rim and peel back the liner. (Mine was 1/8" tape.) Now take some of your 3/8" or so ribbon and lay the ribbon right at the bottom lip of the tin. Continue around the tin, following the tape around. (I let mine end in the top indented area of the heart; it is not noticeable.
For the bottom band, you will need a couple of 1-1/2" strips paper. (I used 12" x 12" sheets; it took one full 12" strip, and about 7-1/2" of the second strip, I think.) I ran these strips thourgh my Xyron, peeled the liner, and made sure that I stayed right down at the bottom of the tin. Please note: You probably don't want to cover all of the way to the top of the tin, or the lid will fit rather tightly and you might damage your paper taking it on and off. That's why I stayed right below the rim, using a 1-1/2" wide strip.
Embellish the top as you see fit and fill with good things!
Celebrate Today Gift Tin
Stamps: PaperTrey Mixed Messages, Beautiful Blooms, Borders and Corners {Rectangle}
Paper: K&Company Classic K Margo Fushia Skinny Stripes Flat, and Margo Pink Flower Patch Flat papers
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White
Ink: Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink; SU Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, River Rock, and Wild Wasabi; Ranger Adirondack Cranberry
Accessories: Wild Wasabi Grosgrain; Jonquil Swarovski crystals
Tools: Cuttlebug tiny tags and flowers dies
