It seems like a lifetime ago when I last made anything other than bento. I hadn't made actual art in some time and was in desperate need of creating something other than lunch. Thankfully, Leslie saw this and graciously sent a box chock full of miniatures, blank altoids tins, tin inserts, mini metal garden items, model landscape material, mini building supplies...it was a giant box!
I eventually decided to create a mini garden cottage inside a Blank Altoids Tin using the Altoids Shelf Insert - 2-1/4 Inch Wide and a super cute (and very tiny) Half Scale Georgian Pediment. The outside of the tin is simple - a lovely gate and some roses:
And here's the inside of the tin with the garden cottage and the smallest wheelbarrow you've ever seen! It's a hefty metal miniature painted with acrylic craft paints. It got a quick scrub with some dish soap to remove any mold-release residue before painting. Next to the wheelbarrow on the right is a Quarter Scale Antiqued Window Box under a Tiny Trellis. So small, so cute!
The roof of the cottage is the Half Scale Georgian Pediment mentioned earlier. I altered it a tad and have a basic tutorial for that below. You can see lots more of the Dark Green Camouflage Foliage inside the tin as well as a few Green Foliage Bushes and Variegated Green Vines. The Green Foliage Bushes are the grassy tufts with little leaves in the corners of the tin. I cut the tufts to fit and they are perfect! The small tree was made with a twig from the Dark Green Camouflage Foliage, a rolled ball of Variegated Green Vines, and some yellow flowers (or maybe lemons?) from the Mini Flower Border - Yellow.
The cottage rests on Altoids Shelf Insert - 2-1/4 Inch Wide. It is three chipboard pieces with slots that fit snugly in the bottom of the tin. I painted the insert pieces, glued them inside the tin, then added air dry clay cobblestones to the front. The cobblestones were painted and some Green Turf Grass was sprinkled here and there. The front piece of the shelf insert attaches to the top piece slightly behind the tin lip, creating a recess wide enough for the cobblestones, but it's also a great place for a label holder from the Fairy Tale Frames Altoid Inserts set. Or filigree!
And here is how it came together:
The Half Scale Georgian Pediment was slightly too wide to fit inside the tin so I sanded the ends before painting it. I cut a triangle of cardboard to fit over the front, then painted strips of black paper to look like shingles. The strips were glued to the triangle, trimmed, then it was glued to the pediment. I also added shingle strips to the rooftop.
The rest of the cottage is a square of cardboard with a brickwork collage sheet image glued to it along with a window and another collage image. The two 1/8 Inch Square Wooden Dowels push out the cottage front so it aligns with the roof.
In this last pic you can see the insert in place and the drying clay cobblestones. This was taken after the cat stepped on it. I might have freaked out and scared the cat with my screaming which made the situation worse because then everything went flying as he tried to get away, but the tin survived. Mostly.
And so did Tim. 💕
All of these goodies - except for Tim - can be found at Alpha Stamps or you can go RIGHT HERE to see the supply list for this project.
Happy creating!
