This post is sponsored by our friends at Stonyfield. 

I’m one of those people that LOVES shopping for school supplies. I love the fresh pencils (even when we rarely need to buy new ones), the crisp, spiral notebook covers, and the perfectly pink, trapezoidal erasers. Now that everything is bought and the backpacks are well broken-in, there’s a little room for some creativity for how to arrange and organize the materials at home on your kids’ desks.

When Stonyfield asked me to make a back-to-school craft by upcycling one of their sturdy yogurt tubs, the only question was…Ok, how will I make this into a desk accessory? There are SO many ways to give these Stonyfield quart-size containers a stylish makeover, but here at ProjectKid, we like to try to think outside the container.

Introducing…the Cute as a Button (Mushroom) Desk Accessory. (Do you think I can trademark that?) I batted around lots of ideas of what materials to use from fabric to pom-poms, but I landed on something that is so basic and accessible: paper. I used some newsprint sheets left over from our last move, but you can also buy a pad of newsprint for not a lot of moolah (or just use some scrap copy paper). It’s also a nice material to have on-hand as a quick solution to throw down on your table before the kids start painting and crafting.

Here is what you’ll need to make this cute mushroom pen holder:

• Quart-size Stonyfield yogurt tub
• Newsprint paper
• Mod Podge
• Foam brush
• Scissors
• Masking tape
• Paper cake plate
• Paper bowl
• Red paint
• Paint brush

Here’s how you make it!

Mushroom stem:

1.Cut strips of newsprint about 1-inch wide, and slightly taller than the tub. You’ll need approximately 20 strips. (If you are doing this with kids in the 4 to 7 age range, you may want to cut or rip smaller, chunky pieces, as they are less fussy to handle.)

2. Coat a section of the tub with Mod Podge, and place a strip on top. Paint Mod Podge on top of the paper and repeat to cover the entire tub. Trim off any excess ends, and while the Mod Podge is drying, set the tub aside.

Mushroom cap:

3. Flip your paper bowl upside down and tape it to the plate.

4. Crumple up some extra newsprint paper to round out the top; use masking tape to stick it down.

5. Wrap a piece of newsprint around the whole mushroom cap and tape underneath.

6. Paint the cap red and let it dry.

7. While the paint is drying, cut circles in varying sizes from newsprint paper. Attach circles to the red cap with Mod Podge, and then coat the entire mushroom cap in Mod Podge to give it an even sheen. Let it dry.

8. Hot glue the original lid of the Stonyfield yogurt tub to the underside of the mushroom cap.

Of course I had to make a baby mushroom too…I used a Stonyfield yogurt single-serve cup and flipped it over. For the cap of this ‘shroom, I used an extra lid from another quart that I had recycled.

Many thanks to our friends at Stonyfield for continuing to challenge us with fun ways to craft with their packaging!