A love of mints and photos a DIY frame make.

So, if you're anything like me, you have a million empty Altoids tins sitting in a drawer waiting to be used.

Okay, so that sounds weird. But I've been saving them for years. Sometimes I decorate them and give them as gifts (which I will showcase in posts to come), but usually they just sit, waiting for an ultimate and higher purpose.

Likewise, I have dozens of Fujifilm Instax pictures, which are completely adorable but not very usable. They are about credit card size, and although they are cute for giving to friends or tacking in heart shapes on walls, they are otherwise just frivolous mementos. Painfully cute, frivolous mementos.

I decided to take both of these under-used yet full-of-potential parts of my craft bin and do a little mash-up into a fun DIY. Not wanting to exclude those who don't have Instax cameras or photos, keep in mind that you can make these tin frames with cropped photos adjusted to the proper size.

Altoids Tin Photo Frames

 Helpful skills:

• cutting
• measuring / eyeballing

Materials needed:

• Altoids tin (empty and cleaned)
• Instax photo or equivalent (4.25 x 3.4" / 108 x 86mm)
• Scrapbook paper
• Double stick tape
• Scissors
• Optional: ticket stubs, coins, chipboard letters, glitter, ribbon, etc.

Tips:

Use the Altoids tin to trace how the paper will fit inside your tin. You will likely have to cut it down to get it to fit just so. Just keep slicing until it fits the way you like.

You may also want to consider decorating the inside edge of the tin to add more interest.

I used double-stick tape to adhere the paper to the tin so it laid flat, but a glue stick would work just as well!

If you want your regular photo to look like an Instax polaroid, use white cardstock that is 4.25 x 3.4" / 108 x 86mm and cut your photo down to 3.90 x 2.44" / 99 x 62mm before taping or gluing it on. You could even cut the corners down so it fits inside the tin flat (I don't recommend this for real instant film as it may destroy the integrity of the photo), but I kind of like how the photo slightly bends in the frame.

You could decorate the front if you like, but I decided to leave this one as-is because I like the re-purposed feel of it. One day it may even feel vintage, which appeals to me even more.

The inside of the lid is a great space to attach ticket stubs, song lyrics, or anything else that adds to the meaning of your photo!

Kinda makes you want to buy some mints now, doesn't it?