ALICE IN WONDERLAND BOOK - USING ALTOIDS TIN LIDS

This month at Alpha Stamps it’s all about Alice and Altoids tins.  What a perfect combo as I LOVE anything Alice and altering tins.

Most of my Altoids tin projects only require the container and not the lid.  I end up with lots of leftover lids which I hate to throw away.  To the rescue is an easy book project that uses just the lids!

The two lids serve as the front and back covers for the book inside with a closure made from a ribbon attached to the lids.  

Inside is a book made from frame inserts (hinged together) that are sized to perfectly fit the lids.  The inserts come in two style sets; one Alice in Wonderland themed and one with various scalloped edges.

VIDEO TUTORIAL – There is now a YouTube video tutorial for this project.  The video also covers 5 other altered tin projects.  You’ll find the segment about this project at minute 22:18 in the video below.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS & WRITTEN TUTORIAL

To create the pages for the book, I started by painting the frames.  Next, I glued the frames to Alice in Wonderland illustrations.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF MY ALICE IN WONDERLAND THEMED COLLAGE SHEETS & DIGITAL IMAGE SETS AT ETSY

I also added some images to the front of the frames like the title banners and cards.  You’ll notice that I didn’t use any dimensional embellishments on the pages as it would make the book too bulky and it wouldn’t fit inside the tins.  Just stick with paper images and not too many of those.

Decide which page you want as the first and which as the last and cover the backs of these pages with decorative paper.

The end result is 6 unique pages.

PUTTING THE PAGES TOGETHER

Below is the order and method in which I assembled the pages.  Note that the photos I took were of the book sitting in the tin covers but as you assemble the pages they are not in the tin.

I glued a hinge to the Alice with Caterpillar page and then glued the other side of the hinge to the Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum page.  Since the Alice with Caterpillar page will be the first, the back side is covered with decorative paper.

I glued the Alice and Cheshire cat page to the back of the Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum page.  I glued a hinge to the Cheshire cat page.  I then glued the other side of the hinge to the Tea Party page.

I glued the Red Queen page to the back of the Tea Party page.  I glued a hinge to the Red Queen page.  I then glued the other side of the hinge to the Alice and Cards page.  Since the Alice and Cards page is the last, the back is covered in decorative paper.

NOTE:  Another option is rather than making a hinged set of pages that fit inside the tin covers, you could simply decorate the inside of each of the tins as if it were a shadowbox book.

MAKING THE BOOK COVER

I started by wrapping the edges of the lids with decorative checkered ribbon from my stash.  I ran the ribbon through my small Xyron machine to apply adhesive before attaching it to the lids.  I used the Xyron machine as the adhesive won't seep through the ribbon as wet glue would. 

Note:  After you pull the ribbon through the machine, rub the ribbon with your finger before removing it from the waxy paper dispensed from the machine.  This will ensure that the adhesive sticks to the ribbon.

With the lids stacked together (insides facing each other), I used Glossy Accents to attach a ribbon.  The ribbon needs to be long enough to go around both lids and to tie into a bow.  I used Glossy Accent because it sticks to metal.  In this case, it doesn’t matter if the glue seeps through the ribbon as it will be covered with paper.

The last step is to cover the back of each lid with decorative paper.

In the pictures below, you can see how the finished ribbon looks on the spine of the book and how the ribbon ties on the other side of the book.

COVER DÉCOR

This is where you can go crazy with the dimensional embellishments.

In the background, I used more images from the Alice collage sheets.  In the center is a miniature wood book that I painted and added pages of the Alice in Wonderland book.  At the bottom of this post are the pages for your use.

Surrounding the book are lots of bits and bobs such as a mushroom, teacup charm, clock, key, roses, and a heart stick pin.

MINIATURE ALICE BOOK PAGES

These are sized to fit the wooden book.  Feel free to download and use them in your art.