Aside from freshening your breath, Altoids, or at least the case they come in, can be used for much more — including the optical mouse (above). Continue reading to see some creative uses for these minty tins. Click here for first picture in gallery.

Minty Mouse

To make your own “Minty Mouse”, you’ll need one Altoids tin, an optical mouse, dremel tools, epoxy glue, a mini-hack saw, and around 4 hours of free time. More pics after the jump.

Make Flickr pool member drewish of Bicycle POV fame posted up a couple images of a minty cool mouse he made

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MintyBoost USB Charger

The MintyBoost is a great project for those lazy Sundays. This DIY USB charger will provide your 5th-generation iPod with up to three hours of use on just two AA batteries. Step-by-step instructions can be found at Instructables.

How long will a pair of AA’s run your video iPod? How about 3 hours. That sound pretty good?

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Altoids Guitar Amp

This nifty Mint Tin Pocket Guitar Amp is actually made from an Altoids tin and “ready for you to plug in a standard electric guitar and some headphones.”

The fairy removes the mints and eats them (thus her incredibly fresh breath). She then solders the electronics together, adds some jacks, a volume control and a red LED… and voila!

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Altoids Tin Guitar

Though it may not look pretty, this Altoids tin guitar is fully-functional and can be connected to an amplifier. If you want to build your own, check out these instructions.

I got this idea from the original Altoids Guitar posted by bumpus. When I set out to make my own Altoids Tin Guitar, I decided to make an Instructable out of it

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Altoids Tin Speaker

For those looking for a geeky DIY project, then you’ll be happy to know that a “speaker, circuitry, single AA battery and 3.5mm male-male audio cable all fit together” in an Altoids tin. Instruction page.

Anyone undertaking this project should have access to standard tools — pliers, diagonal cutters, wire cutters and strippers, soldering iron and solder, multimeter, electric drill and brad point bits. Experience making PCBs is also required

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A technology, gadget and video game enthusiast that loves covering the latest industry news. Favorite trade show? Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.