Altered Stationery Box

I am entering the August iamroses back to school colour challenge with this altered project I created for my daughters desk.  She is 12 years old and it suits her personality and room decor perfectly. Here is a link to the blog challenge:  august-iar-color-challenge-back-to-school

The desk tidy at a glance...

...and various close ups

I bought the desk tidy at a local shop; it was kraft coloured so I painted the set with white acrylic paint quite a few times.  The desk tidy came with a photo frame which was not suitable for what I had in mind so using thick white card stock I created a rectangle box which I glued onto the base of the box.

The box I created is not quite visible in first image because it is covered with numbers and roses but the next image shows it more clearly.  As you see it is covered with a strip of striped paper.

I used the Hello Summer paper collection by Echo Park in this project.  The image above shows various tiny gel stickers all depicting school items.  All the brads in the centre of the flowers are part of the Hello Summer collection.

I used numbers stencil on the decorative paper I glued onto the box - the above image shows some of it peeping out.  I used two different sizes of an ordinary old fashioned school stencil and chipped sapphire and aged mahogany distress ink - dabbed the ink onto the numbers and letters with a make up sponge.

I filled the box with a matching paper clip, rubber and pencil sharpener - these are the items my daughter would use most often.  The tiny roses are an iamroses product and the code is R2-428.

The number squares and school rules flag are from Little Yellow Bicycle and is called fabric favorites - the edges are inked with chipped sapphire.  Unless otherwise indicated, all products are purchased from Paperlane - please click on the link to visit their blog and links to their online store.

The original design of the box was to lift up the top section to gain access to the pencils.  To enable this pull out feature I cut off the section that closed the box and adhered a Tim Holtz knob fastener.  I kept it simple - adding decorative paper would not allow the box to slide in and out smoothly - those tiny gel stickers decorated the sides perfectly.

The above image shows the back of the desk tidy.  I did not add the pom pom trim because this side would be against the wall on her desk.  I did however add decorative paper and the same gel stickers on the pencil drawer.  I used double sided tape to attach the banner to a ice cream lolly stick that I painted blue and hot glued it to the base.

 Some close up images of the back of the desk tidy

The above flowers are iamroses flowers and the code is ZQP23-151.  I bought them white, chose three and coloured them with glimmer mist.  I used Sun Sisters for the yellow, Vintage Pink & Red Velvet for the pink and Autumn Nights for the blue.  The image to the right shows the rectangle box I created perfectly - I removed the contents to show the decorative paper I had glued down inside.  I folded the blue flower in half and cut off the prong of the brad before adhering to the box.

The triangular canvas banners are from Little Yellow Bicycle; I used 3d foam to adhere 1 to each side of the triangular box that inserts onto the base of the desk tidy.  Tiny gel stickers complete the look.

I always enjoy creating projects for my daughters room - she is young enough to enjoy it and old enough to appreciate it.  I hope I inspired you to join the challenge too - the prize is awesome; go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by...