Lace & Butterfly Desk Pot

My friends are all very well trained in the matter of never throwing away any containers or packaging that I might want for some crafty purpose!  A couple of weeks ago I was given a few cylindrical tubs that had contained biscuits or choccies.  One had held M&S Dark Chocolate Orangettes - hmm, my friends are not all that well trained in sharing their yummy treats - I never got to sample those! ; )

I used to store my most used craft tools and sundries in various containers on or around my desk but a while ago I got a spinning storage carousel which is wonderful and means everything is within reach and can be found in one place.   The only problem was that I couldn't store my rulers in the carousel as they were too tall to fit under the long shelf I have above my desk.  I have a metal non slip ruler for cutting, a clear Tim Holtz centreing ruler and I have Perfect Layers tools that are the shape and size of clear rulers.  For the past few months keeping the rulers out on my desk means that during a crafty session they always get covered up and lost among the stuff on my desk.  I can spend a lot of time rummaging to find them and it's really frustrating.  As soon as I saw the Chocolate Orangettes pot I thought it would be ideal to keep my rulers in so I placed it on the desk to try it out.  I can keep the pot towards the front of my desk without it taking up too much space and I always know where my rulers are!  I did have a ballast issue where the pot fell over a few times so I rectified that by putting a few pebbles in the pot and that sorted the problem.  The pot has been on my desk for a week or two now and I decided it was high time I decorated it.

A recent trip to the Glitter Pot, my local craft shop, resulted in some new items entering my craft room - butterfly dies and some beautiful lace patterned paper.  I covered the pot with the lace paper, added die cut Bermuda Bay CS borders at the top and bottom and finished the borders off with Early Espresso dots.  I die cut the solid butterfly in dark aqua patterned paper, cut the outline butterfly in Early Espresso CS, layered the two shapes together and added the antennae.  I wrapped a strip of Espresso CS around the pot, added some Bermuda Bay ribbon and popped up the butterfly to finish.

Here's a side view.

Here's a close up view. Something pretty for my desk but it's oh, so practical, I love not having to rummage for my rulers now!  I'm toying with the idea of making a matching notebook - we'll see!

Supplies:
Stamps:  none
CS: SU! Bermuda Bay & Early Espresso
Patterned paper:  Authentique 'Classique Elegant 9', Echo Park Style Essentials 'Teal Damask'
Ink:  none
Tools: Memory Box 'Oriel Butterfly' & 'Lunette Butterfly' dies, 'Lace Edger 2' Joanna Sheen Signature die, tiny circle punch
Embellishments & accessories:  SU! Bermuda Bay taffeta ribbon, SU! Dimensionals, repurposed M&S choccie tub