Monday, June 21, 2010

Prizma Pencil Holder - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!


Ok, so I'm a crafter that would rather spend my money on cartridges, embellishments, and fun stuff for my actual layouts, cards, and projects. However, there are things that we crafters NEED, a place to put all of our goodies for instance. Well, I have a nook in the corner of our living room as my hubby, two girls and I live in a condo!! We want a house, but as we all know, the housing market isn't so great right now so we wait. I came home on my birthday a few years ago to find that my sweet hubby made me a tiny little crafting area. Complete with a nice desk, two little shelves, and a large bookshelf. It was probably the sweetest thing anyone has done for me. We have so little room and yet he took the time to give me something he knew I would love and use...he's amazing right? Anyhow, on my desk, as most crafters, there are lots of pens, pencils, scissors, etc...I could go on and on. Well my small, but real problem, is that I have a pretty little vase filled with these items. It was getting WAY to crowded. Recently, I started coloring using the Magic Pencil Technique - check it out on  Sue's site.  I've modified a bit, I use baby oil instead of the Gamsol, but pretty much stick to her methods as her work is AMAZING.  Anyhow, I added all these colored pencils to my stash and just have NO where to put them.  I really wanted that desk top carousel from Memory Makers but it's a lot and like I said I'd rather spend it on my stash.  So, I made my own holder.  I reused an old wipes container that I'd been eyeing for something crafty.  Here's how I did it:
Step 1
Find a good container - one that has a large opening at the top - a clorox wipe container, a wipes container, anything that's plastic and can be weighted down.  Next cut your paper to fit around and maybe some ribbon.  I tried ribbon but it didn't match so instead I used my Stampin' Up stash and used green for the base and added the mulberry color to the top, bottom, and middle.

Step 2
I grabbed a cute image a gal over at the cricut board had sent me and colored it using the technique I mention above.  I then mounted that image on some more Stampin' Up paper and glued it down to the container.  Make sure your edges have adhesive on them as you don't want corners sticking out!

Step 3
I used my Gypsy and welded the shadow letters COLOR from Nursery Rhymes cart.  I then enlarged them so that I had an image that was 4.19 x 2.14.  Next, I welded butterfly shadows from the Gypsy Wanderings cart (1.49 x 1.15) to the word.  I cut them out in more Stampin' Up paper.  However, the letters that went onto the shadow I cut out on Georgia Pacific 110lb paper.  I did this so I could color the letters using the technique mentioned above.

Step 4
Embellish, Embellish, Embellish!!!  I added more butterflies, some ribbon and a bow, lots of pearls and rhinestones.
Step 5
Finally, in order to have something that wouldn't tip over, I went outside and grabbed some rocks!  That's right ROCKS..flat ones.  I wanted to use heavy washers, but alas we had none!  Next, I added a styrofoam circle that was headed to the trash (yes, recycled again!) over top the rocks.  Then to make it look nicer I added a piece of cardboard over the styrofoam. 

And it turned out great, and I can have my pencils right on my desk and I didn't spend a penny!!!  Well, except for the paper and embellishments! LOL! 
Enjoy!

I'm also submitting this over at Frosted Designs for their "What's Around Your House" Challenge.  Check it Out!

4 comments:

  1. Oh this is just darling Melissa! Such a smart idea and you made it as cute as can be!!!! Gotta go check out all of my wipes to see how long before I can make one. xxD

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is just a wonderful project! You ROCK ... (PUN intended!!!) Thanks so much for sharing with us this week at Frosted Designs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So cute. Great project and that was definitely and unexpected item!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow!!! This is fantastic!! What a gerat idea... and it is soooo beautiful!! You would never guess what it started as!! And what a dear hubby you have... that is so sweet that he went to all that work to make a special area for you!! Thank you for giving us the step by step directions on how you made this and for sharing it with us at FD!!
    Barb :)

    ReplyDelete