DIY to try: tree stump pencil holder

I’m not sure how long this will last, but I’ve found a way to make my kids put their pencils BACK to the pencil place when they’ve finished using them rather than leave them scattered all over the ground for me to step-and-slide on. I saw one of these a while back and looked so easy I decided to try it. Finding the right size stump was the trick, but the father-in-law came to the rescue when he was cleaning up his yard and found this one. This was the easiest DIY I’ve ever done (um, because I didn’t actually do it!). I told him I wanted to chop it up and drill holes in it for the kids to put their pencils in. He looked a little worried for my sanity but said he’d chop it up for me (it was a long piece). Next thing I knew, a plastic bag was delivered to my home with the wood stump not only chopped, but drilled too. All I had to do was stick a bit of sticky felt on the bottom to protect the table surface. If you want to DIY, here’s how.

You’ll need:
A skinny tree stump or really thick branch and the ability to chop it up or saw it down
An electric drill with speedball or drill bit slightly wider than a pencil circumference
Sticky-backed felt
Scissors

How to:
1. Cut/chop the stump or branch to your desired size. I would have cut these down a but more, but hey, I didn’t have to lift a finger, let alone an axe, so all good.

2. Drill randomly into the wood about a third to a half of the depth of a pencil (remember they get shorter as you sharpen them!).

3. Cut a round of sticky felt and stick on the base. I also grabbed an old rag and roughly rubbed down the stump to get rid of any looseish bits of bark.

And there you have it – a funky way to stash the coloured pencils and keep them on display too. Pencils that draw pictures and write letters to the mermaids and fairies. And when you draw pictures of fairies for mermaids (!), you must have a fishtail plait in your hair. Because that’s what mermaids would do. Apparently.

{Images by Belinda Graham for The Happy Home}