Upcycle Empty Cookie Tins Into Stylish Storage

by Claire at Pillarboxblue

7 Materials

1 Hour

Easy

I love those spiced cookies that you get in the tins from IKEA at Christmas. We got through quite a few of them this year. Instead of throwing away the tins I decided to upcycle them into some stylish travel themed storage for my study. I thought they would look great on my DIY map desk.

upcycle empty cookie tins into stylish storage

You can use cookie tins of any size for this project.

I love old road maps and keep them for crafting with. I decided to give these cookie tins a travel themed make over with maps.

First, I sprayed painted the tin cans a cream color.

I cut strips of road map to fit the outside of the tins.

Using double sided sticky tape I attached the maps to the outside of the tins.

Next, using a rotary paper cutter I cut out a round map to fit the lid of the cookie tin. This was then stuck to the lid with glue.

Then to make the tins even more stylish I added leather handles.

First, I drilled small holes into the side of the cans. (see the blog post for more details).

I made the handles from leather scraps and attached them to the tin using Chicago screws.

Just punch a hole in the leather to pass the screws through.

I attached two handles to each tin.

To make the larger tins better for storage I made dividers using cardboard.

I'm really pleased how these map tin cans turned out. Not only are they handy storage but they look really good in my study. They match the popular IKEA Moppe map drawers I have in the study.

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3 of 4 questions

Louise Grey on Feb 17, 2020

Very cute idea. Did you attach top circle to cardboard. It looks like there is a raised lip around the top and it would be easy to poke a finger through the paper?

2
RC Leach on Feb 20, 2020

Is a "Chicago Screw" the same thing as a rivet? I have never heard that expression before, and I'm very near to 80 years old. I really like the idea, but I really don't need anything like it, plus, if I wash out the tins after they are empty, and give them to my daughters or granddaughters, I'm likely to get them back full of cookies...

4
Evelyn on Feb 22, 2020

Can you just mod pose the map to the tin ?

1