Mini Altered Mailbox how-to

Kids had off from school yesterday(Monday) So I am one day behind already this week.

A few posts back I promised a how to for the mini mailboxes. (I just cant get enough of these little things!)

Here goes.

Start with your plain metal mini mailbox.  The dimensions of these from Target are roughly 3.5 x 5 inches. They come in a variety of colors.  Have fun with it.

You will need the basic paper crafting supplies, scissors, 12inch paper cutter, double sided tape, pencil and 3//8 inch circle punch.  You need to pick out some 12 inch paper to cover the body of the mailbox and the two end caps.

I skipped a step in my photo taking. to cover the body of the mail box measure your mailbox from side to side and cut your paper to fit.  I used a 3/8 inch circle punch to cut a whole to fit around the end of the flag. you can do this with scissors too. I applied double stick tape around all the sides and around the edges by the flag. You want to make sure the edges by the flag are secure or when you move the flag the paper will catch and tear ;(.

This photo shows tracing one of the end caps on the backside of the paper you choose.  Cut two. use double stick tape again to secure.

I used my scallop punch to make a cute flag topper. You can use any shape or leave it blank.

Here is my flag topper, I also added a circle sticker that matched my paper.

I went to my ribbon stash and found this 1/8 inch korked ribbon.  I knotted it around the stem of the flag for some extra flare.

I like to add a little pull to the front of the mailbox to get the door open. I punched a hole in the front through the paper and tin.  I just used a hammer and my eyelet whole punch. Here you can see the chipboard pretties I chose to add.

I used two pieces of ribbon.  tie them together with a large know in the middle of both and feed them thru your hole. This secures the ribbon.

Thread the ribbon thru your chipboard and knot again. I tied each color individually to give it some personality. Add some liquid gle to secure your last knot. Trim your ribbon and use a lighter to heat seal the ends.

I added some chipboard letters to the side of my mailbox.  I like to use Mono adhesive to adhere my shapes. Lay your mailbox on its side so your elements lay flat until they dry.

And here is the finished product.

I left the other side blank as this one is for sale.  I like to add a name with either chipboard letters or sticker letters. You could also just add a sentiment of some sort for the holiday. I also added some 1/4 inch ribbon around the edges.  This isnt necessary but I had some in a coordinating color.  I used double sided tape to adhere this as well. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like me to make one of these for you.

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