Motivational Gold and Lucite Desk Tray DIY

I hope you all have been having a great week!  I am excited to be sharing this super easy catch-all project with you today!  I have gathered together with several of my favorite bloggers to share fun DIY ideas to ‘Dress your Desk’ with using some of our favorite goodies from The Container Store in celebration of their annual Office Sale (going on now).  The links to all of the participants posts are at the bottom of this post, so you can head there after!

You guys know I know to keep it pretty minimal in my office.  I just shared our new double work space last month and there were a lot of very simple lines, natural colors, and clutter free areas for getting work done. One of the BIG ways I keep my desk clean is by enlisting a catch-all.  It’s kind of like the ‘junk drawer’ mentality where if even the totally random little tid-bits have a space, the desk can stay clear.  In my catch-all I keep everything from binder clips to zip drives, to hand lotion to sticky notes.

For this project, however, I wanted to give the desk a little extra motivational umph! I scanned a handwritten version of my favorite mantra, “dreams don’t work unless you do” and turned it into a vinyl decal and adorning a lucite tray.  I have the whole step-by-step coming up next, so let’s go! 

Materials & Tools

• Cricut Machine
• Gold Vinyl  (I use this vinyl, it’s way less expensive than the cricut vinyl and is permanent/dishwasher safe)
• Clear Acrylic Desk Tray
• Clear Contact Paper
• Rubber/Scraper
• ‘Dreams’ graphic, get it HERE!

First, download the graphic, then upload it to the cricut.com/design platform.  Then, make sure do away with the white background, unflatten and turn the graphic into a cut.

CUT OUT the graphic on gold vinyl.  REMOVE the negative space, or background of the graphic.

cut out a piece of clear contact paper that is a little bigger than the vinyl graphic, then STICK the transfer paper, sticky side down, to the graphic.  RUB over the top of the graphic and clear contact paper with a hard object.  I prefer to use Pampered Chef scrapers.

PEEL the clear transfer paper off of the white background and your graphic will pull up on to the transfer paper.  Then, LAY the design (sticky side down) onto the center of the acrylic tray.  Use your scraper one more time to ensure the gold graphic adheres properly to the tray, then peel away the clear paper, leaving your graphic attached to the tray.

Now, I don’t usually like using my cricut for blog projects because I know that not everyone has them… but due to the intricate nature of this handwritten mantra, there wasn’t a good way to cut it out with a craft knife. If you’ve been on the fence about a cricut, maybe this is the push you need to get one?  Then you can also make these, and this!

I love all of the clear, acrylic desk accessories from The Container store and it’s only natural that a DIYer would want to put her own stamp on it, right?  Plus, when I am feeling bad for myself, this mantra usually gives me the kick in the ass I need to get over it.

Are you ready to see the other bloggers’ projects!  Here are the lovely ladies participating in the #dressmydesk project! Enjoy!