The amount of pencils and pens that are mounting up on my son’s desk is scary so this weekend we got into our crafty mood and made something that also helps to store some of those colourful pens. We have made a lot of pencil and pen holders before with the versatile loo roll, glass jars and Popsicle sticks but never before with a tin. To transform a simple tin into a colourful pen holder doesn’t take much. All you need is a tin, glue, paper cuttings (or just one piece of colourful paper if you want to keep it simple), adhesive lining for the inside if the tin is plain metal to avoid rust.

1. Wash the tin and dry well; if the tin is not coated in the inside cover it with adhesive lining to protect it from rusting; make sure there are no sharp edges

2. Cut different shapes of colourful magazines, comics or any images you like; we used cartoon-like images of fruits from a magazine my son was given in school to promote eating more fruit and greens

3. Paste the cuttings on the tin overlaying them to give a pop art look

It’s that simple and effective.