Desktop Caddy Using G45 A Ladies' Diary

As I got more confident after finishing the hinge box, I decided to try and attempt again for a more complicated project.  At least for me, everything is still complicated.

For my very first real project, I was inspired by one of the pictures in the the book by the Hollanders (details of the book in my second blog entry).  It was a desk caddy.  The form and look of it is so unique.  More about it later.

First, I needed to get me a real nice paper to cover it.  There's one paper stack that really caught my eye while searching in the internet.  It's the Graphic 45 A Ladies' Diary Collection.  It was so beautiful and feminine.  I wish I lived in that era where ladies wear long dresses, boots, hats with feather and always carry an umbrella and a handkerchief.  Not to mention the small purses with tassels.  Oh, that's me daydreaming again.  Sorry. 

Anyways, I'm not so sure how I'm going to find it here in Singapore.  Sometimes I refuse to check the stores because those Made in USA stuff are sold here double or sometimes triple the original retail price.  Yeah, yeah, there's shipping and handling and tax and so on.  Anyways, after going through all the paper shops I know of (5 shops), I found it in one of the stores in Novena.  I bought me just 5 sheets of the paper (because I still needed to buy Glue, Sealer, Stain, Scissors - almost all from the USA so you can just imagine how the prices add up exponentially).  Buying the paper was the happiest day of my young crafting life. It's THAT beautiful.

I got all that I needed so I was good to go.  My husband lovingly bought for me 10 3'x2.5' chipboard.  These can last me a long time.  Here's the caddy that I made.  The dimensions are 18" x 12" x 5".

Desk Caddy using G45 A Ladies' Diary Collection

Desk Caddy - Detailed View

As usual, I used 2 layers of chipboard for strength and durability.  Since I only have 5 sheets of G45 paper, I used a different paper collection for the sides and bottom. Then, I used a plain black cardstock for the back.
The keyhole seen on the bottom left side was a cutout from a different paper stack.  I cut it out and adhered it to a piece of chipboard.  Then I put dimensional glue on the surface to make it look more 3D.

Desk Caddy - Side View
The sides are triangular in shape and the shelves gradually deepens as you go down.

Below is how it can be used (A mish-mash of things).  As art supplies, office supplies, perfume display unit or maybe make-up organizer.  I think it can also be lovely to display small stuffed animals or memorable trinkets.

Desk Caddy
How I might use the caddy.  It can be used for office supplies, art  supplies or as make-up organizer.

I didn't use much of the G45 paper collection as I was saving it for my next project.   There's not so much creative use of the paper in this project as well.  Well, there's always room for improvement.

This desk caddy took me 2 days to complete.  I stopped once in a while because I didn't know what to do next and not so sure about the sequence of things.  Maybe if you ask me to do this again, I can do this in just a couple of  hours.