Introduction: Writing Tool Organizer

About: I am a conceptual artist, and my DIY projects are mostly inspired by pop culture (movies, music, sports, TV). I mostly specialize in painting, graphic design, drawing, digital photography, performance art, and…

Do you ever feel like you've misplaced a valuable pen, pencil or paintbrush? Or do you ever want to organize those things all in one place? Well, this is it! The Writing Tool Organizer, my take on the original School Supplies Organizer project as developed by YouTuber Bethany Mota! In her video entitled "DIY Room Organization / Spring Cleaning + Decor", Bethany came up with the brilliant way to keep all of your pens and pencils together, using an old shoebox and a lot of cardboard toilet paper rolls! Nice work, Beth! This is the perfect craft to make for Back To School and for Spring / Bedroom Cleaning!

I found the idea for the project on this source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAXOHpzq9Ko

P.S. Thank you, Bethany Mota!

Step 1: What You Need

Here is what you need to make your own Writing Tool Organizer

  • old shoebox
  • wrapping paper
  • Mod Podge
  • sponge brush
  • acrylic paints
  • paint brush
  • Tacky Glue
  • scissors or X-acto knife
  • cardboard toilet paper rolls

Step 2: Shoebox Prep

The first step in making your Writing Tools Organizer is to prep your shoebox. If you have a shoebox that has a top that easily comes off, you can just take the top off. Or if you have a shoebox with an attached top, like in my example above, cut off the top with a pair of scissors or an X-acto knife if your prefer.

Step 3: Decorate the Box

Now, for this next step, take some wrapping paper and Mod Podge it onto your box. I used some small squares of wrapping paper sent by the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Cut some excess paper off, trim to size and glue everything in place. You can even take some extra pieces of paper and overlap several gaps to make funky unique patterns!

Step 4: Toilet Paper Rolls

Now come the toilet paper rolls. For this step, you can leave the rolls as is, or, like I did, you can paint them to add a pop of color to your organizer. The shoebox that I used for the project holds 24 rolls. So, I used, for this part, 3 colors of acrylic paint and I painted 8 red rolls, 8 blue rolls and 8 yellow rolls.

Step 5: Gluing the Rolls

Now, the next thing you want to do is pour some Tacky Glue onto a paper plate, or a disposable paint palette pad, like in my example.Take your toilet paper rolls and dip them into your glue. Then, take them and stick them right into your shoebox. Keep doing this until the shoebox is full of toilet paper rolls.

Step 6: Finished Result

In the end, you should get something that looks like the image above.

And that's all she wrote!

Step 7: Store Everything

Now, all there's left to do is add your pencils, pens, markers, paintbrushes, whatever, right into your toilet paper rolls, and set on a shelf! Perfect! Now, you can add full access to all of your writing tools and school supplies for your homework, crafting and note jotting needs! It's amazing what you can do with an old shoebox and reusing it for something more useful!