Use your Cricut and upcycle your empty Cricut vinyl cardboard tubes into an organizer that’s perfect for your pens, tools or even makeup brushes! This post contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through my links, I’ll receive a small portion of your purchase at no extra cost to you.

With Earth Day quickly approaching, Cricut asked us to share a fun way to recycle the empty cardboard tubes that come inside their vinyl. I thought it would be a great opportunity to make an organizer for some of my pens. I even used cardboard from one of my Cricut packages to make the base for the organizer.

After making one, I have a few tips for you. Next time, I will make a larger organizer,  because I had more pens than I realized. I also made the front tube shorter for a place for the pen cap when I’m using the pen in the machine, but I’m not sure if I love it so small. I would probably make the next one taller in the future. I also wasn’t super pleased with how the washi tape turned out around the edges, so on my next one I don’t think it will try to fold it over like I did for this organizer.

Supplies for DIY Pen Organizer from Upcycled Vinyl Tubes
(Click on any of the links below to purchase) 

Cricut Vinyl Tubes
Cricut Explore Air 2 or Cricut Maker
Cricut Foil Embossed Paper in Gold & White
Cricut StrongGrip Mat
Cricut LightGrip Mat
Piece of cardboard
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Glue stick
Gold glitter washi tape (or desired color of washi tape)
Razor blade

Instructions:

Use a sharp knife or razor blade to cut your vinyl tubes into pieces that are your desired height. (I did a 4 inch piece, two 3 inches pieces and one 2 inch piece.) Be very careful!

In Design Space, insert a circle and change the size to 4.5 inches for the base for 4 tubes. (If you choose to do a larger organizer you will need a larger circle base.) Duplicate it and change the color so it will cut out on two different mats. One circle will be the cardboard piece and the other will be the pretty cardstock piece.

Click on Make it.

Use the StrongGrip (purple) mat for the cardboard and select “Flat Cardboard” from the Materials list. I used the more pressure setting to ensure the cardboard was cut completely and I did two passes.

After you cut out your cardboard circle, use the LightGrip (blue) mat for your foil embossed cardstock.

Use your washi tape to decorate your paper tube pieces. You could cover up the entire piece, but I just did some along the top rim.

Use either a glue stick to glue your cardstock to the cardboard or your hot glue gun.

Then, put a line of hot glue along the bottom rim of your tube and place on your base. You can also put a little bit of glue between the tubes to make it more sturdy.

Now your organizer is complete and ready to be used! I ended up using it for my Cricut pens, but you could use it for Cricut tools or even makeup brushes.