Organizing Your Store Rewards Cards

I've always been fascinated by  Altoids tins  (I know I'm not alone in this one).  I finally found the perfect use for repurposing one - an organizer for all those store rewards cards.

 

I don't know about you, but I've got 20+ of those store rewards cards.  I think they multiply on their own in my purse!  I don't like to carry the small tags on my key chain because it would just be too bulky.  And a rubber band around the thick bunch of cards just doesn't seem pretty enough.

Sooo-ooo,  Altoids tin, have I got a job for you.

                                                          I found a  scrap of pretty decorative paper that I already had.  I could decorate thousands of tins with the scraps of paper I have.    I chose this paper because it coordinates well with the blue that is on the edge of the lid.  That way I only had to cover the top of the lid and didn't have to bother with the trickier edge.                                                  I used a corner rounder to get a perfect fit on the paper.

 

 

                                                          I added a couple of embellishments (got quite a few of those laying around too!)

I pulled out the handy dandy Mod Podge and glued the paper to the top of the lid.

 

 

Then added some rubber bands to hold the paper down while the Mod Podge dried.  I had to add an extra rubber band on the left edge where the brads were to make sure the paper had a good contact with the lid while the Mod Podge dried.  Because the brads made it a little trickier, I let the Mod Podge dry for a good 3-4 hours (usually I rush the drying time to about an hour, but I wanted to be careful this time).

 

 

The cards fit a little too perfectly in the tin making it tricky to slide them out (long nails required).  I hot glued a strip of ribbon to the back, leaving a tail that can be used to pull the cards forward so you can grab the one you want.  Learn from my mistake: I glued the ribbon too far across the tin.  You should only glue from the middle of the tin to the bottom.  That will give you more mobility with your ribbon so you can lift the cards far enough out of the tin to easily pick the one you want.

 

 

 

I attached the ribbon "upside down" on purpose. That way the lid of the tin acts as a tray to catch the cards as you pull them forward. Once you've pulled the card you want out, you just close the lid and all the cards fall right back into place in the tin. If you open it the other way (the way you would normally open the tin), the cards will fall out at your feet. If all those 20+ cards fall out on the floor as I'm checking out, I'm pretty sure I'll like shopping even less than I do already.

Of course, all my cards are alphabetized in the tin (is there any other way?) and they fit perfectly.
Yea! A quicker and easier check out at all those stores.  I might even learn to like shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

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