Introduction: Lightly Sweetened Key Organizer

About: wats up

This is a neat little key organizer you can make out of bits of a cereal box in about half an hour. It's really simple and can be scaled up or down to hold as many keys as you want, or other things, like flash drives or other small items (these instructions are for one that will hold 5 keys.)

This is handy because keyrings (or at least my own keyrings) are bulkier than they have to be and can easily get disorganized. They take up too much room in a pocket because the keys bunch together and stick up in all sorts of weird directions... It's one of my biggest pet peeves, and I often find myself awkwardly rearranging keys in my pocket because I know that were they not on a ring they could lie flatter.

This organizer helps fix that! It's very flat, and keys are going to always be waiting for you in the same position you put them back in, unlike a keyring where they can slide around. As an added bonus, since the keys are covered completely on one side, you don't have to worry about scratching a phone or an iPod in your pocket with them. 

Step 1: What You Need

Not much! 
"tools" would be:
-a ruler
-scissors
-a pen
-tape (clear packing tape, or duct tape- your choice. may depend on the radness of the graphics on your cereal box/cardstock)

Materials are just:
-a cereal box, or any 6 by 6 inch piece of relatively thin cardstock
-your keys. 

Step 2: Step 1 Is to Cut the Cardboard.

For the 5 key version of this that we're making here, you'll need a 6 by 6 inch square of cereal box or cardstock. 
Measure it with the ruler, cut it out. 

Step 3: Fold It in Half

You should be able to measure down 3 inches to do this, and use the straightedge to fold your square in half.

If there are any edges that stick out you should probably trim those down. 

Step 4: Measure Halfway Down That

Now we've got to draw a line across this left to right at the midpoint. That should be around 1.5 inches down. 
use the straightedge to draw a line all the way across.

Step 5: Mark 1/4 Inch Off Each End

We need to mark 1/4 in horizontally on each end

Step 6: Mark Off Every 1.25 Inches

now we need to make the marks for the rest of the cuts. Make a mark every 1.25 inches between the two marks you made in the last step. I know this won't be a perfect fit, the last one will be slightly larger, and you can use that for keys that didn't quite fit in the other pockets. 

Note: if 1.25 inches doesn't look wide enough for your keys, trust your judgement and use your own measurement. 




Cut along those lines to the center line we made earlier. 

Step 7: Cut the Two Halves Apart

Ok! We're ready to cut the square in two. 

Now you should have two pieces of identical dimensions with identical cuts made in them. 

Step 8: Put Those Halves Right Back Together Again

Now that we've got the two pieces apart, we need to put the back together. But not how they were together before. 
Use the cuts we made to weave the two halves together. 
Ever make those paper placemat things where you wove strips of paper together? this is pretty much that, but smaller, and with cardboard. 

Step 9: Taaaaape

Now we've got to tape over the flappy bits of one side. 
This is to close the ends of the pockets of the opposite side. 

So, if you have just boring old cardstock, you might want to use duct tape. But, if you've got a cereal box with totally rad graphics on it like I did, you might want to use clear packaging tape. 
Doesn't really matter.

You're going to want to cover the entire back and bend the tape over the edges for strength as well. 

Also, tape down those 1/4 inch wide flaps on the front like in the second picture. 

Step 10: Put Your Keys in It!

Woohoo! You're pretty much done!

put keys in the pockets on the front, and label them if you want. 


The best thing I think about this is how flat it is. It'll fit in a pants pocket, and with the flat, smooth back you can put a cellphone in that same pocket without worrying about scratches, and you'll have room to do that too.
Unless you've got really skinny jeans.
in which case, you'll just have to put this in a coat pocket, and that's cool too. 


Hope you enjoy it!