Hello my crafting friends,
August is upon us and it’s time for the next exciting challenge at
Eclectic Ellapu. This month is a fan fav…wait
for it…you guessed it…ANYTHING GOES!!!
It’s far too hot to be outside so grab the kids and head to your
crafting sanctuary. Let’s rocks some
awesome projects to share an inspire others.
For my design team project, my
inspiration came from a simple personal need.
I needed a pencil/pen container for my desk. Now of course, I could just go right out and
purchase one but why do that when I have everything I need to make one right
here! I started with a craft coloured
DCWV Explosion Box that I got from Michaels awhile back. I tore out the inside papers (it come with 1 layer),
so that it was just the base of the box with the attached 4 sides. I attached some binding strips I made out of
craft paper to hold the box sides together and created the 4x4 box. And yes, you know how I love building things
from parts; I could have made the explosion box from scratch as well but why
should I work that hard when I don’t have too (save that energy for another
project). I put the box lid away; I will
use it for another project some other time. Some ideas for the lid: a decorated little trinket/embellishment
holder when you are working on a project and want to keep all those little
items together and out of the way. If
you glue some thin silicone rubber on the sides and inside bottom you can have
your very own hand-made hot glue gun holder, and if you are careful with paper
placement and embellishments you could probably squeeze the bottom of the box
down into the lid as its holder. Let me
warn you, it will be a tight squeeze and I say once it’s in there, it stays,
that’s how tight the squeeze will be. Sorry
got a little off target, continuing on with my project info… I inked all the
edges with Distress Ink Vintage Photo. I
used some left over scraps from my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite paper
Graphic 45’s French Country (can you tell it’s my favorite paper). I used the paper for the inside and outside
of the box. I place a piece of acetate
on the inside bottom of the box to eliminate the ink pen and pencil stains. I
finished off the box corners by hot gluing some Chinese Braid to the edges. Since this will be a heavy use utility box
for me, I felt that minimal decorations for the outside of box would be best. I just wanted something simple and cute to sit
on my desk at work for my writing utensils.
I’ve seen some boxes that are really gorgeous with lace, metal
embellishments, flowers, ribbons, the bottom feet doohickies (not sure what
they are really called but they lift your box up so it’s not sitting directly
on the surface). Below I have shown the box as a decorated small
table or mantel piece box. You can use
this little box for many things… a loose change, bill or stash money holder,
etc. Again, I plan to use mine for pens, pencils
and highlighters on my desk at work. Well, that is it for now, see you over at
Eclectic Ellapu for the August “Anything Goes” challenge!!!
Joyce
