Recycled Desk Organizer

Are you looking to get organized while saving money and the environment? If the answer is yes, this desk organizer is perfect for you. You'll be able to organize all your office supplies into this handy container made from an upcycled cereal box.

• Cereal box
• Blade/Exacto Knife
  • WARNING: the blade is sharp, be careful not to cut yourself
  • Optional: you can use scissors for most of the steps if you prefer
• Ruler
• Pen or marker
• Cutting Surface
  • NOTE: use this cutting surface to keep from making cut marks on your table

Choose your cereal box size. You can use whatever size you like. A smaller box will make a smaller desk organizer and a larger box will make a larger organizer.

Open the bottom of your box and put your cutting surface inside. Cut out the front of your box so the sides, top, and bottom are no longer attached.

• Note: make sure you are cutting on your cutting surface at all times.

Use a ruler to measure out a 2 in. by 2 in. square on each corner of the box.

Cut out the squares you measured and drew out.

Fold up the sides of the box, so you have a rectangular prism. Mark out the base of your box and make a quarter inch margin at the top of each side.

Cut silts in the sides, but DO NOT cut all the way to the end. Start at the bottom of the quarter inch margin and cut towards the base of the box. Make sure to never cut through your quarter inch margin! If the sides of your box don't measure to even half inches, then your last strip on those sides will be slightly over or under half an inch.

• Note: if at any point your quarter inch margin does get cut or torn, you can fix it using a small piece of tape.
• Note: you must use an exacto knife for this step

Cut the top and bottom of the remaining cereal box off, then cut five half inch wide strips from the box. Save the remainder of the box in case you need extra strips.

Take a strip of the cereal box and weave it through the strips you cut in the box sides. Move your strip over a cut in the box and under the next cut and repeat until you reach where you started.

• Overlap the end of your strip with approximately the first 2 inches of the beginning of the strip (where you started the layer), and trim the remainder off.
• When you reach the end of your strip, you can add a new one by overlapping a new strip on top of the old by 2 inches and continuing to weave.

Repeat step 8 until you fill in all cuts in the box to complete the first layer. Add a second layer following step 8 except alternate your weaving. Go over the strips you went under in the first layer, and go under the strips you went over. Your weaving should like the weave in the picture above. Keep going until you finish the second layer.