Upcycling a phonebook into a pencil holder into a centerpiece vase

Do you hoard phone books? Never know what to do with them? Well then you should consider checking out this DIY. You’ll be needing a box cutter as well as a strong arm – there’s a good chance it will be sore by the time you’re done cutting through the phone book.

Materials:

• phone book
• utility knife (box cutter)
• aluminum T-square (I used a regular ruler)
• new pencil (I used two)
• hot glue gun
• scissors
• 5 binder clips
• cardboard tube (toilet paper roll)
• paint brush
• Mod Podge
• black card stock (I used thin cardboard)
• I also used some champagne-colored glitter paint

Phone book upcycled into a pencil holder / QC APPROVED.

I took the liberty of deviating a bit from the original DIY. I wanted a quirky look, so I picked random heights for each compartment. I was fortunate to be able to flip to pages that held sentimental value to me from the Recycle Book Store, to Giorgio’s, to a list of local yarn stores. The DIY makes all the cutting n’ gluing seem so easy, but it’s tough work. The cutting definitely took me the longest as it was tough to keep the pages even. Gluing the spine n’ page edges to the pencil proved to be arduous n’ brought along some improvisation as I miscalculated the placement of some of the page edges. This resulted in me having to add a second pencil at the center on which to glue the remaining compartments of the pencil holder. After coating my project with Mod Podge, I painted on some champagne-colored glitter paint followed by one last coat of Mod Podge to seal every thing.

Phone book pencil holder used as centerpiece for dinning table / QC APPROVED.

My mom decided that this would make a nice centerpiece, so we took glass tubes from another centerpiece n’ stuck them in each compartment. So now you have idea for a centerpiece for holiday dinners. Happy Thanksgiving all!