Showing posts with label pencils. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pencils. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

diy pencil block






Well, technically you can do it yourself. I actually emailed my handy (and very generous) father and asked him to do it for me but...

There are several varieties of these sold on Etsy. For a boatload of money. I fell in love with the concept but was determined not to pay that sort of money for a block of wood. And basically, that's all you need.

You can simply buy a 4x4 and sand it down or you can plane a piece of wood to your desired size, which is what my dad did. My pencil block is spray lacquered but you could paint of stain it any color you desire. Do this FIRST. If you try to paint it after the holes are drilled the paint will just drip down into the holes.  Not pretty.

My dad put painters tape on one side of the wood and marked where the holes would go. He then drilled through tape. This helps eliminate any burrs or cracks around the holes. As far as drills go, a hand drill will work, but if you have a drill press that would (apparently) be a better option.  I'm not terribly well informed on drills but this is what the pro told me!

Be sure to measure the items you want to place in the holes before drilling.  You could use these blocks for pencils, markers, makeup brushes or even kitchen utensils.  But I personally found the rainbow of pencils the most visually appealing.  Now lets see how long they stay color blocked as photographed.

Happy crafting...

Friday, December 10, 2010

hot for teacher... at anthro

Third year running I've gotten fun, affordable teacher gifts at Anthro (ok, the polka dot pencil set is a little pricey but it's so freakin' cute I splurged and got a set for the house too).  
Best part? I'm done! (Pats self on back.)
Well, with the teachers at least.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

blooming pencil pot

Is it Tuesday already?  Oh my!  How time flies when you're recovering from a birthday party, six visiting, but not necessarily related to each other relatives AND school has been out for seven long weeks.  Did I say long?  Did I mention that it reopens three weeks from today? Nah. But who's counting?

I spotted these fabulous flower pot pencils right away in the new Fall issue of Modern Handmade Child to which I am typically a contributor... just not this month.  Even still, it's contents are simply fabulous.  These fabric flower pencils are shown on page 25.  They are also available for sale at little cat on Etsy.