DIY Yardstick Box

 

A few months ago there was a yard sale at the Hutslar house. My parents gave me some stuff to throw in the sale, but when I saw several bright red yardsticks in a pile of their "junk" I immediately snagged them for myself. They were beautiful to me and I knew I could give them new life. 

 

Lately, I've been attempting to brighten up my work space / craft room so I knew I wanted to use them in that space, but wasn't exactly sure how to incorporate them. I actually brought them up from the basement and stared at them for a few minutes just trying to decide what they would be. I realize that is a little cray-cray... welcome to the world of a DIY-er! Eventually (as usual) the light bulb above my head switched from off to on. As a crafter I can never find enough cute ways to organize and display my pretty supplies. I needed to make a cute little box out of these yardsticks! And so it was born...

I am a little smitten with the finished product as you can probably tell by the gazillion pictures I'm sharing! And it was pretty simple to make which I always love! I used a piece of thin board to make the bottom of the box. I used the same piece of board to make the compartment dividers. I had my hubby use his handy-dandy saber saw to cut the pieces of wood. After the wood was cut, I spray painted the pieces to match the yardstick. If you are using a regular wooden yardstick or ruler you could just stain both the wood and yardstick to make them match. Lastly, I used an electric staple gun to assemble the box. I tried using wood glue, but it turned into a total disaster. It was probably an issue with the assembler and not the wood glue, but I just found the staple gun to be 10x faster and easier. I was able to wedge my divider pieces into place and got them to stay in their spots without using the staple gun. To make the staples less obvious I colored over them with a red marker that matched the ruler. And that's it! 

 

PS - I love this yardstick box in my craft room, but it would also make the perfect gift for a teacher or child going back to school! How would you use it?