Spotted: Cross Stitch Cookie Tin, and 10 other Altered Containers

I used to dread receiving tins of cookies and fudge at the holidays, even though cookies and fudge are delicious.

But those tins. Oh, those tins!

You can’t recycle them. You can’t, in good conscience, throw them away. You can donate them, but frankly, the thrift stores have enough of them already. And you certainly can’t regift them, because nobody else wants them, either!

Thankfully, user kittykill on Craftster has finally solved the cookie tin dilemma for everyone, for all time. Check out her tutorial for this cookie tin that she altered with real cross stitch, so that now it’s something that you actually want to have around. Once you read her tute, you’ll be surprised at how easy this project is.

Now that you’ve seen this, I’d bet anything that you’re looking around your house, thinking up what other containers you can alter. If so, you’re in luck! Check out these altered container projects:

1. altered Altoid tins. There are a ton of ways to alter Altoid tins here.

2. antiqued jar. Make a maple syrup jar look a hundred years old with these techniques.

3. baby food jar votives. Empty baby food jars are actually hard to come by in my town, on account of so many people are into these types of upcycled crafts. May you have better luck in your jar sourcing search!

4. book page-covered box. This technique makes even an oatmeal box look elegant.

5. embellished filing cabinet. Paint and Mod Podge turn an ugly, beat-up filing cabinet into something very, very different.

6. shipping container into house. Okay, this is an extreme example, and you’re probably not going to make it happen this weekend, but if you’re ever in the market for a nice little cabin in the woods, or a weekend getaway somewhere, then altering a shipping container just might be for you.

7. soda case into canned goods storage. If you keep a lot of a particular type of canned food on hand (I love you, Diced Tomatoes!), then it’s worth it to track down one of those cardboard boxes that sodas are sold in, and fix it up using this tute.

8. stained glass bottles. This is a permanent way to dye your old glass jars. One of you is going to freak out to me that it calls for acetone, which isn’t natural, but it also keeps that spaghetti sauce jar out of the recycling bin, so there you go.

9. suitcase into craft storage. Decoupage and lots of little containers turn this vintage suitcase into a lovely and portable item for craft storage.

10. wipes container to activity box. If you’ve got a toddler, then you’ve already got one of these. Make it into something fun for the kid!

[cross stitch cookie tin image via kittykill on Craftster]