Thursday, June 14, 2012

Father's Day










If your having trouble figuring out what to get for that wonderful father in your life and you feel like your running out of time well you've come to the right place. For the handy man or the fisher man in your life here is a perfect gift and it doesn't cost much at all. A tiny tool or tackle box made out of an Altoids box. Most of the stuff you can probably find around your house if you are and avid crafter or he's obviously a  handyman. All in all it only cost at  most 5 bucks to make this.


  • Altoids box
  • small can
  • felt (any color)
  • acrylic paint that comes with the gloss in it ( I used tucsan red)
  • tackle items (optional)
  • two small blunt sheet metal screws ( I apologize for not the exact size. It didn't say on the envelope.)
  • piece of card stock
  • hammer
  • flat end screwdriver
  • nail 
  • can opener
  • bottle open
  • scissors 
  • needle nose pliers


Santana waiting patiently to help. Hehe  

First off you want to start by painting your box because this will take the longest to do. After it drys each time you will have to apply a coat until you reach your desired look. 






Now while you are waiting for that to dry. You can begin on the handle. I tried to find a handle that was small enough to fit this box and I was not very successful. Apparently you can go wherever they sell replacements for boat handles and they have handles that will fit a box this size. I'm not sure if it's because of where I live but I could find none. Any who that is where this back up came into play. If you are prone to accidents I suggest wearing glove just in case the can slips you don't cut yourself. I used a can opener to open the other side and then I used a bottle opener, the pointy side to help punch holes on both sides to get it rolling for me to cut. Then I just cut straight across and all the way around both sides with heavy duty scissors. Next I very carefully took the needle nose pliers and folded the can in once and then I folded it in half. I used the pliers to press everthing closer together. Now you can shape the piece of metal into a handle.










Of course I really didn't take picture of this next part and for that I am sorry. Now that the two main pieces are completed you are ready for assembly. Get your nail and hammer so that you can make the holes for your screws to go in. After that take your screws and start to screw them in by hand. Grab your flat nosed screw driver and screw them in part of the way in. You want to have room to push the handle under. Once you have placed the handle screw the rest down. 

If you were doing a tool box, congratulation you are officially done. Now you can fill it with whatever goodies dad would like. If you were doing the tackle box we only have a little more to go stick with me. 

Cut your card stock so that when you fold it in half  and place it in the box it looks like an upside down T. You can place as many as you'd like. Remember to glue them down or if you prefer to remove them later don't. Now cut a small piece of felt for the box so that it can lay on top of your tackle items. Finally fill with treasures and give to the lucky recipient. Mine will be going to my father-in-law.:)

2 comments:

  1. Love the tiny tool box idea! I'm a big fan of upcycling items to make new things.

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