Desk Organizer

I went grocery shopping the other day at Safeway and as my hubby and I were walking around the produce aisle I spotted several empty plastic produce bag rolls. I can only speculate as to why there were so many. Maybe because it was late at night, the staff were to busy to replenish the rolls, or thieving plastic hungry gnomes got to them before anyone noticed. In either case, I gathered them up since I'm positive they don't reuse them. (just to be safe the checker girl said they would just toss them so I was free to take them home). Here is what I made with them...

A Desk Organizer!! Why yes, I try to minimize clutter as much as I can because for me at least I feel more productive. lol. Besides before this little holder I was laying everything out and holding my glue upside down in a roll of foam tape. Not a very efficient use of space.I like this so much better and the best thing was I had all the stuff to make it for free! Here's how I did it...



I gathered 3 of the empty rolls from Safeway. They can be found in the produce aisle. I was lucky to get them in one trip.

Example of a roll, but wait until it's empty before you procure it :)

They are about 4" in length. Next cut your tubes (I used a hand saw I found in the garage). I didn't really measure I just approximated the length I wanted, but here are some measurements you can go by Tube #1 cut at ~1 1/4", Tube #2 cut at ~1 1/2", Tube #3 cut at ~1 3/4". I cut them in different lengths because I like the tiered look. I feel it allows for better viewing of your items. Optional: I sanded down the cut sides, if I took more time I could have sanded them down to be perfectly flat.

I also cut an old toilet paper roll the same length as my longest tube which would be 2 1/2" if you used the above measurements. This will be your center tube.

I then cut out a 3 3/4" circle out of cardboard which was liberated from the recycle from my work. Lay out your tubes how you like and outline the tubes with a pencil to mark their place. Glue down the tubes.

I spaced them out so I had room to put larger items like glue bottles and scissors in the tubes. The space also allows for areas to put small rulers and such.

I originally was going to paint the whole thing in acrylic to make it look finished, but I didn't want to have to retouch if the paint chipped. So I Glimmer Misted with Snowy Pine and Calypso. I covered the open spots with Distress Ink Faded Jeans.

Surprisingly it has become a very useful organizer. And you can't beat the price!