DIY Colored Pencil Organizer

Hi friends,

Here is a super easy project to do by yourself or with your kids.

I originally spotted this idea on Pinterest and decided to enhance it a bit and make it my own. Basically, you will be recycling toilet paper cardboard tubes into pencil holders. Very neat!

Here is what you need:

• 12 cardboard toilet paper tubes
• A box to fit all 12 (mine is the bottom of one of my Birchbox deliveries)
• cardstock or scrapbooking paper in assorted colors (I used the small stacks as they fit perfectly and require less cutting. Also if you use a stack, it also comes in assorted and coordinated colors, so there is no need to brainstorm a color scheme)
• Mod Podge
• Brush (to apply the modpodge)
• Scissors, tape and
• Decorations of your choice, in my case I used leftover chipboard.

I really was tired of having pencils all over the place, some in their original box, others in Zipploc bags. I like Zipplocs, but as far as I am concerns , they are better used for food and travel. Anything outside of that just looks messy to me.

 

So I gathered my tools...We have been keeping the cardboard rolls for the last two months or so for that purpose.

 

 

My plan was to use the bottom of a Birchbox as a support for the rolls, but you can use any other size box you want, to make this smaller or bigger, depending on your needs.

This project is very easy to complete and requires no special skills.
First you will need to cut your scrapbooking paper to size. I chose the small stack variety (6x6) since it fits best without having to measure and cut too much out of a single sheet.

 

 

Using tape, I attached the edge of the paper to the roll. This is only so that the paper would stay in place as I glued it to the roll.

 

 

 

 

 

Once secured into place, I used Mod Podge all over the inner surface of the paper, and rolled the tube over it, pressing gently to ensure all the paper was glued to the tube.

 

 

 

 

 

I left about 1 inch or extra paper which I cut into small strips up to the edges of the tube. This allowed me to cover the rim with paper. You do not have to worry about the bottom part of the tube since it will be hidden inside the box.

 

 

You also do not have to worry about a perfect job, the pencils will cover the inside of the tube anyway.

 

Using my brush, I applied Mod Podge to the outside of the tube as well as the inner rim, and put it to the side to dry. Repeat the same process with all the other tubes.

 
 

 
For the box itself, I simply wrapped it with paper as though a gift wrap and applied Mod Podge all over it. I did not bother with the inside of the box since the tubes would cover it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Once all the tubes are back inside the box, you will notice that they may be a bit too snug and not all that straight. To contain them and keep them tight, I used paper clips and clipped each individual tube to its neighbor. It worked great to stabilize the box and keep the tubes together.

 

For decoration, I found some leftover chipboard from a previous scrapbooking project and used glue dots to affix them to the box. I only had one O for the word COLOR, and used a Q instead, but placed a matching dog decoration over it...pretty clever, you can't even tell it's not an O!

 

Once in place with glue dots, I brushed a layer of Mod Podge over the letters to seal them and give them the same finish as the rest of the project.

Let's add the pencils and voila!

 

 

 

 

 

All together this was done under two hours. It's a great project to complete with kids and quite frankly, I can see myself doing something similar for makeup brushes, and other like items.

Thank you for liking and sharing my post.
Sophia, NJ

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