Recycled Card Organizer

I have a problem....

I can't throw anything away or even put it in the recycle bin!  Ok, so maybe that's a little exaggerated, but I seriously have the hardest time! Just ask my husband: any box, bowl, jar or container made of cardboard, plastic or glass must pass through my approval before it can be put it in the recycle bin.  Lately, I keep saying, "I'll make that into something"  "That's a nice container, I'm sure I could use that" "Oooo! I have the perfect thing to put in that"

Well, my "recycle" stash is getting VERY large! I almost need a new room to fill with all of my containers.  Despite the hoarding of recyclables...I do have to say, I've made some creative uses for them - I've even surprised myself with my creativity.

Here's one of my favorites:

A couple weeks ago, Rite-Aid had a coupon for $3 off 3 cards.  Well, you know me, Mrs. Frugalicious, I found another $1 off coupon to double the savings, bought the cheap-o cards, and basically walked away with cards for 40cents or less.  Let's just say the Rite-Aid employees know me by name just for that one week.  I would even go twice a day; on my way to work, and on the way back home. By the end of the week, I had accumulated quite a collection, and by collection I really mean COLLECTION of cards for all holidays and occasions.  So I needed an organizer to put them all in of course!!

So, I found an empty box of Kleenex in my stash (thanks to my husband's allergies) and my creative wheels started turning.

Classic, plain, BLAH Kleenex box

Cut into all 4 corners of the opening, then fold the flaps and tape them down.

Cover with pretty paper! Just measure (leave a few inches of extra), cut paper.  Then fold the extra flap over the edge and tape.

I didn't have enough to completely cover the edges... boo :p

 So, I found a cute polka dot paper to cover the edges.

 And Voila!! Isn't it cute?  But wait...you can't have a card organizer, and not have the inside covered too!

 But you don't have to cover the bottom, because who HONESTLY looks at the bottom of a box to see if it's perfectly covered??!! NOT ME!!

 So I used the same polka dot paper from the side, to cover the inside.

 Just put the paper in, measure (see my little pencil marking?) Then cut and tape!

Much better...perfectly lined.

 I ran out of blue polka dots, so I had to use another black polka dot pattern.  I think they need to make bigger sheets of paper, or maybe shrink Kleenex boxes! Don't they know covering a Kleenex box requires alot of paper? :)

 Fits all my cards perfectly!

  But you can't stop there.  All the cards need to be organized, so I made dividers for the different holidays and occasions.  I never knew working at a grocery store would be so beneficial to my recycling addiction.  I used the cardboard rectangles that the yogurt comes wrapped in between.  Two rectangles for every case of yogurt, so I only have to save 100 cases, and I'll get 200 cardboards! Ok, maybe not that much...but I do have quite the collection of yogurt cardboard. (I use them to make another recycled organizer....that post will be coming later)  Anyways, cut the cardboard (cereal boxes work great too!) into the length and height of the Kleenex box.  I wanted the dividers to be taller than the cards, so I could easily find the tabs and locate the correct card, so I measured a few inches more than the Kleenex height.

 Cut down to size - I used a box cutter (another benefit from work) but a razor blade works just the same.

 And there you have your lovely dividers. I just realized the first one is cut WAY out of whack! Just because I use fancy tools, doesn't mean I can cut straight. :z  Cut as many dividers as you need. It makes the organizer look nice and, well, organized.

 I used the rest of my Post-It tabs from a freebie giveaway to write on for the different sections.  I could take the time to make uniform, fancy dividers, but to quote Rhett Butler: "Frankly Scarlett, I don't give a .DANG." :) Ok, so maybe I do care, but this will only be used and seen by me. Sometimes FREE is better than absolutely perfect and uniform. Didn't you know?

Mix-matched is the new coordinated.

 A nice, organized collection of cards.

 And then I have to label my organizer, so I know what it is.  Just in case I suddenly forget what that beautiful covered box is. :)

I channeled my inner 16-year-old, writing cute artsy notes to my friends during class, and using state-of-the-art CRAYONS, made a cute label for my Card Organizer. Sometimes crayons are the greatest art tool. :)



Just about any box would work, just as long as you cards can fit in it.  I am so proud of my card box. It's recycled, organized and most importantly cute!

Today's Earth Day...are you doing anything special? I have alot more recycled/upcycled posts to come...