Pencil Pot {with Eclectica³ Darcy Stamps by Julie Bell}

Hello everyone, my name is Julie better known as pinkjules50. My main craft is cards, which I have been doing for about 6 years now but I also like to dabble with altered art as well.

Now I don’t know about you but I throw so many loo rolls away each week (having 3 bathroom’s doesn’t help lol !!) and as I love trying to recycle things I thought I would start saving some to make a few projects.

And here is one of them, the perfect pencil pot!!!

I started with 4 TP inner tubes and some heavy smoothy card; roughly draw around them to make a square. Use this to make a shallow tray,then paint both sides of the tray and the inside of the loo rolls with Pea Coat and set aside to dry.

Next I cut 4 pieces of  plain printer paper, big enough to wrap  around the rolls. Using a blend of London bus, Toffee and Tango I sponged onto 2 of the sheets of paper,making a mottled effect I repeated this using a blend of Toffee, Limelight & Yellow Submarine on the other 2 sheets. The paint dries very quickly on this type of paper so you have to work fast.

Using Versafine ink and EDY05, I stamped the border  across the top of both sets and then the plants to build up the rest of the scene. I also cut apart another TP inner, laid it flat and painted it with Peacoat on one side and Snowflake on the other. Once dry I stamped the large flower. 

EDY05

Next a bit more colour, so stamping the main images onto white paper I coloured with Blood Orange and London Bus, Tinned Peas and Limelight. I carefully cut these out and stuck over the already stamped images. For the tops of the grasses I used the end of a scoring tool to dot on the colour as it give a cleaner look and is easier to do.

Now the base tray was dry I stamped one of the leaves in snowflake all over the outside and when that was dry I taped together. I added a strip of orange and red ribbon covering up my pretty stampings Oops!!!

Assembly time!! Adhere the papers to the rolls, for this I used tape roller as it was easier to handle than wet glue at this stage. As long as you have cut them to the exact length it’s easy to roll them around. Once they are all completed, face the designs outwards so you can see them. Use a strong wet glue and stick 2 of them together,then glue the bottom and stick into the tray,remember to stick all 4 to each other for strength. 

As a finishing touch take your large flower and give a colour wash of London Bus and detail with Tango, cut out and glue to each side of the tube stack. 

I finished by added a little Classic Treasure Gold around the tops and there you have it, a very strong sturdy practical pot for all your tools!!!

I hope you have enjoyed this project and can give it a go. 

Jules x

A huge thank you to Julie from PaperArtsy, this is such great storage. I could do with one of these for my paintbrushes. The beauty of this is not only are you recycling but you can tailor this for any colour scheme. You might think TP tubes are flimsy, but once stacked and glued they are really sturdy. 

If you would like to join in our weekly challenge with any of this week's guests who have blogged since Sunday night, then join in to link up your creativity HERE.You will go in the draw to win PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by17:00 (London time) Sunday 23rd March 2014