I was looking online for some kind of pencil holder to display my colored pencil collection and corral my ever-defiant bundle of kitchen pens, but after searching multiple websites for pencil holders and toothbrush cups and even just regular old mugs and not finding the perfect thing (at a price I was willing to pay!), I decided to try to make my own.
She gives a wonderfully descriptive and amusing tutorial on how to redo basic household recyclables, so if you like what you see in the picture, I would definitely advise following the above link to her post!
However, I didn't know if her lovely shabby-chic DIY would particularly fit with my home decor, and I was looking more for a pen holder and less for a centerpiece. As I am an addict dedicated collector of scrapbook paper, I decided to see what I could whip up using that. A quick Pinterest search yielded a tutorial from Em at Olive on Blonde that I used to make my project. If you decide to attempt a similar project, I would suggest taking a look at her tutorial - she lays out every step with great pictures.
Based on her recommendations, and armed with my itsy-bitsy mini-glue gun, I grabbed an empty infant formula can and set to work!
Picking the paper was the hardest part... I must have sorted through the pile for the better part of an old Star Trek: Deep Space Nine rerun. I finally found a piece of brown-and-crème scrapbook paper that I liked, measured the height of the can, and cut the paper to fit between the tiny ridges lining the top and bottom of my can. Because the paper didn’t go all the way around the can, I cut another piece of dark purple paper to cover that glaring space.
I hot-glued the can according to Em's suggestions, wrapping the larger piece of paper around the can first, tacking down all the edges, then adding the second piece of purple paper to cover the seam and gluing it in place as well.
After the papers were secured, I cut two strips of ribbon – one plain beige piece from a burlap textured wide ribbon, and a cord made from white and gold strands twisted together.
I wrapped the burlap ribbon around the can and hot glued it in place, then added the cord on top of that.
For my final touch, I added a (faux) burnished gold and pearl necklace pendant I picked up on sale + coupon from Michael’s a little over a year ago (my validation for keeping various art supplies on hand!). The back of the pendant was uneven, leaving only three tiny surfaces that would be touching the can, so I added one of the nifty foam squares sold with the glue and tape section of the scrapbooking materials at Jo-Ann's and secured it with a little extra hot glue.
Ta-da! Finished product.
You may notice that some of the edges are a little crooked and the corners aren’t as smooth as I would have liked. As a recovering perfectionist someone who care about my art, it grates on me a little... ok, a lot.
But I am reminding myself that I have been wanting to do this project for a while now, and that I had a rare window of time in which all of my art supplies were available, the baby was in bed, and the sink was suspiciously lacking in the dirty dish department. (Is there such a thing as a dirty dish thief? My kitchen looked so bare without it’s usual décor….)
I had to take advantage of the moment, and if I hadn’t finished it that night it would have taken me a week to squeeze in the last steps between all of my other commitments. So I might have rushed a little more than I should have. Next time I do this project, I will plan on taking a little more time to piece it together perfectly more carefully.
Would love to hear about it/see pictures if anyone else has done something similar!
