altoid tin toy

Here are the next items I made for the kids.  I had seen this adorable pattern for sale on etsy from mmmcrafts and wanted to try it for myself.  I loved the idea of a little toy that is easy to take along in your purse or even a pocket.

I didn’t end up buying her pattern though but made up my own.  I am sure it would be very helpful since the way I did it turned out to be quite a pain.  So definitely consider buy the pattern yourself if you want to make one.  I did make mine quite a bit more complicated though which is apparently what I like to do.  Anyway, I saw her sweet mice and figured I could make the ears a little different and make little bunnies for Easter.  I knew it’d be tricky though since the tins are small and there’s no extra room at all.

I laughed when I took these first pictures because it kind of looks like a coffin, but the kids will never consider that, so no worries!

I started by getting the dimensions of altoid sized tins (approximately 3 5/8″ x 2 1/2″ x 3/4″) and drawing little pictures of a boy and girl bunny that would fit inside.  I then picked my fabric and totally winged it on making the pattern pieces.  I just made each piece a little bigger than the way I drew it on the picture so there’d be a seam allowance.  Some of the pieces ended up being way to big so I later had to cut them down before sewing.  In the original the arms and legs are made from felt so she was able to sew them on the outside since felt doesn’t fray.  I used the same yellow flannel that I used for my bunny purse and so I had to sew them and turn them inside out.  This proved to be very annoying since all the pieces, especially the ears, were so tiny.  If I were to do it again I’d definitely go with felt.  It would cut down a lot on time and frustration.  I also made my head and clothes peices made from different pieces unlike the original.  Of course the less you have to sew the easier/faster it goes.  I used embroidery floss for the faces.  They turned out a bit wonky but that’s part of being handmade, right?!

One issue I came upon was that the pillows were filled too much and when the rabbit’s head laid on it the tin wouldn’t stay shut, they kept popping open.  I also had to take the boy bunny apart after sewing the head and shirt and shorts together because I realized I needed to have put the suspenders on already as well.  These types of things definitely happen when you make it up as you go.  But I got all the problems solved.  I did forget to put a tail on the back of the girl bunny, so if I think about it I’ll add one.

I didn’t want my tins to have altoids plastered on the front so I bought plain tins from an etsy shop called Five Seed.  Yancy was really great to work with and made a custom listing for me with the number I needed.  It looks like they may currently be out but you could always contact them to see if they are getting more in.  There are also some other sellers on etsy that have them as well.  Look in the supply category.

I still have some plans for the front of the tin.  I have a silhouette machine and have a bit of white vinyl left from what came with the kit.  If I have time and don’t forget I want to cut out either some type of design or the kids’ names or initials to put on the front.  If I do that I’ll share pictures.

It should be fun to see the kids’ faces when they open up the boxes and find what is inside. They both love playing with little containers and hopefully they’ll get some fun out of them.  I do wonder how long it’ll be though until little army men or something similar end up living in the box.  It was a fun project but I am glad I finished them.  Don’t know if I’ll ever make any more.  I guess if I do, I take the lessons I learned and hopefully do it a bit smarter next time.  But please, don’t ask me to make any for you.  Give it a go yourself by purchasing the pattern from mmmcrafts!

And if anyone is shaking their head at all this handmade stuff for the kids, don’t worry, I got probably 3 Easters worth of stuff today for the kids from some big box stores.  🙂