Pens, pencils, and markers... Oh my!!!

Howdy all!  I have a fun project to share today.  I had been using an empty shoebox as storage for all my writing utensils and got tired of digging to the bottom every time I needed a particular piece.  I can't even tell you how many times I've bought a new journaling pen because I was sure that it was gone only to find two of that exact one at the bottom of the pile.  So I set out to figure out a way to have them all upright so that I could see the tips of every one of them at a glance and in a way that they all stayed up if I pulled one out.

I started by finding a smaller shoe box.  I had been using a Nike box from hubby's gigantic size 13 1/2s just so I had room to dig, but truthfully my youngest's toddler size 6 shoe box was perfect once it was organized. I settled on toilet paper rolls as a way to divide the box into sections then set out to decorate it with my fav new papers!

Here are the supplies I used:

 A small shoe box

lots of toilet paper rolls (my shoebox took 12)

Modge Podge

Permanent adhesive of choice

Paper/Embellies

 As you can see, step one was to put one of the toilet paper rolls into the box and mark with a pencil just how tall you needed to snip it to.  You don't want it the same height as the box because they shouldn't be visible once full.  I snipped mine to about 1.5" shorter than the top.  Then line the box with them.  It doesn't have to be packed edge to edge, but should be a tight fit so that they don't tip over when full.

To decorate I measured the shoe box length, height and width.  I cut one piece of paper to the correct length (long side) and then added 2" to the height.  Then I cut another piece (making sure the patterns match up) to the correct width (short side) and then added 2" to the height cut again.  My box was 5" tall, 4" wide, and 8" long.  So I cut two pieces of patterned paper.  One is 7"x4" and one is 7"x8".  The extra 2" allows you to wrap 1" inside the box and 1" on the underside of the box to have clean edges.  I applied the Modge Podge one side at a time and was sure to smooth out air bubbles as I went.  I also chose to ink edges of my papers.  I used two complimentary patterns cut into strips to wrap around the center of the box for added interest.  I didn't bother cutting enough to wrap around the entire thing.  Just centered it at the part that would be showing on my desk, but that's entirely up to you.  Add the word 'pens' with foam Thickers and voila!  

I have a different tube for each type of pen.  One for gel pens, one for thin Sharpies, thick Sharpies, colored pens, black/blue pens, colored pencils, pencils, most used tools, misc markers, etc.  So now I can grab a brown thin Sharpie to do a little journaling lickity split without digging because it's upright in eyesight.  :)  

How have you guys personalized your storage with scrappy supplies???

Thanks for visiting!

♥