I love tins and have used them in my kitchen for years. I had a really beautiful Christmas tin that had belonged to my mother. While the outside of the tin was beautiful, the inside was trash. No one was going to want cookies out of a rusty tin, even my special Christmas cookies. Instead of throwing it into the landfill, I cut it up to make gifts of earrings, cuffs, and pendants for my friends and relatives.
Since it started with a Christmas tin, TrashyTinsel seemed like a good name. The best part of this whole affair is a friend saw a tin at an estate sale and decided I needed it for Christmas. Turned out to be the exact same tin my mother had owned and this one was in great condition in an out.
The Trashy Tinsel line has now expanded from using upcycling watch parts, broken jewelry, and other odds and ends which I usually find at charity shops. Rather than going to gem shows, I now look at broken bits as a way to make one of a kind pieces of jewelry.