My daughter starts kindergarten today, and I wanted to send her off to school with an extra special pencil case.  I decided to make her a decoden pencil case.  Have you heard of decoden?  It’s a craft style from Japan where more is better:  more embellishments,  more glitter, more eye catching!!  I used a new product from Plaid Crafts that’s called Collage Clay.  It’s an ultralight clay that air dries and is perfect for decoden projects.  While it’s a little pricey compared to most of my dollar store crafts, a little bit of clay goes a long way, and you can use your craft store coupons to buy it for less.

• Pencil box, $1
• Paint, on hand
• Glitter, on hand
• Collage Clay, $7
• Flower Beads, $1

Total:  $9

Step one:  Paint the box and wood letter, and sprinkle glitter on the wet paint.

Step two:  Spread white collage clay on the lid of the box, then use the enclosed tip to pipe collage clay around the edge.  It’s just like icing a cake!

Step three:  Begin pressing the beads into the clay.  You can use also use buttons and anything else you like!

Step four:  Sprinkle glitter onto the wet clay.  Allow it to dry for several hours.

This colorful pencil box almost looks good enough to eat!  What little girl wouldn’t love to keep her supplies in this case?  You can change the colors and the trinkets you add to make this box suitable for any age or gender.  Add black glitter and mini racers to make a tiny race track box.  Use pearlized beads to create a more sophisticated look.  The possibilities are as endless as your imagination!