From Ugly to Glam Upcycled Cookie Tins

3 Materials
$5
30 Minutes
Easy
I love to make home-baked goodies such as fudge and cookies to give as gifts, especially this time of year. I also love great packaging, so I'm always looking for unique and beautiful ways to wrap my homemade gifts.

This year I've been keeping my old coffee and ugly cookie tins to upcycle into beautiful packaging for my home-baked goodies. I'm really pleased with the marble effect on the tins and think that they are almost a gift in themselves.

I like them so much that I've even marbled a few extra to use myself.
First I gathered my old tin cans. I used coffee cans and Danish biscuit tins.
I gathered my tins for transforming. I used an old coffee tin and some Danish biscuit tins.
I then spray painted the tin cans a creamy white color (using these spray paints).
To marble the tins I used a red nail polish (not fast drying). Fill a plastic tub with warm water and then splash the nail polish on to the water so that it floats on the surface.
You can use a cocktail stick to spread the nail varnish across the surface.
Next, I rolled the tin can across the surface of the water. This is where the magic happens the nail polish clings to the surface of the tin can in a marble effect. Simply lift the tin out and leave it to dry.


I used this method when making the containers for my cute illuminated pine cone Christmas trees (see here).
It is that easy!
You can use any colour nail varnish for this and even experiment with 2 different colours at once. I find that some nail polishes work better than others and I find that if you don't use a fast drying polish that works better.
Resources for this project:
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Claire at Pillarboxblue
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 13 questions
  • Linda Linda on Mar 22, 2019

    Can you do this on canvas?

  • Pam-ella Pam-ella on May 10, 2020

    Do you have to change the water & nail polish for each item? Very pretty!

  • Pampam Pampam on Dec 01, 2021

    Must i use spray paint for the base or can I paint it with latex paint and brush?

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