M: Make Your Own....
Pencil Pot
Sometimes, I get a really big urge to be creative and crafty and make something to go in my house. I don't really need that much storage, as my house is quite small and I already have places to keep things, but the one thing I always seem to accumulate - more than anything - is stationary!
I made this pencil pot years ago at uni. I was sick of having pencils lying around everywhere, and didn't want to splash out on buying a pencil case/tin, so instead I had an idea - I'll make my own!
I found an empty chocolate box that looked like it would be the right size to fit in a substantial amount of my stationary, and got making.
I tore out pictures from a magazine to stick on the box to cover up the original packaging, and make it fit in more with my style. I was quite lucky to find pictures and textured designs that fitted together quite well to create a look that I was happy with. I used fashion images as a base, but you can easily swap this for wallpaper snippets, left over wrapping paper, or even an old newspaper....anything that's lying around redundant, that you could turn into something new....having a play around with designs is really fun!
I didn't stop at a pencil pot either! I made a make up tray out of a shoebox lid and an old perfume box, using the same idea, and finding magazine images that fitted in with the "beauty" theme.
It's such a quick and easy craft to do, and you can use the basis of the idea for lots of things: a nail varnish holder, a memory box, a place to store odd buttons......get inventive and think of different ways you can recycle.
This pencil pot craft would be a great activity to do with children too. It will keep them occupied, help them learn about recycling, and get their creativity and imaginations going. At the end of the activity, they'll be really proud of what they have made, and can use it to store some of their own stationary!
Ginger x