Oatmeal Box Storage - A Tutorial

Organized storage of craft supplies is a problem for me. It seems as though my stash keeps growing but ways to store it well are super limited in my workspace. Also, being thrifty by nature doesn't help .. I don't want to spend a bunch of money for plastic containers! I was looking for a way to store my packets of vintage buttons a few months ago in a way that would be cute and hold them well. I happened to be recycling an oatmeal box and noticed that it was the perfect width for button cards. Oatmeal box storage was born! See below on how to make your own. I've also used this folding technique to wrap boxes for more attractive storage (see last photos).

What you'll need:
An oatmeal box
2-12" pieces of pretty scrapbook paper
Scissors and tape

Why, hello empty used oatmeal box.

Cut it in half .. no need to be exact here.

Tape up the open end.

Place one box half in the middle of an piece of scrapbook paper. The paper should be facedown and there's no need to be exact here either. 

Fold up and tape the short ends. The paper doesn't need to come up to the top of the side (you can see about a half inch uncovered on mine). It'll get covered up later.

Now fold up the long sides of paper and fold over the short end(see the next couple photos).

Now cut down the paper to the corner of the box.

Fold end inside

Do the same thing with the other long side of paper to make a clean looking end. 

When you have both short ends done, it should look something like this. Now just fold in the long sides and tape all the inside flaps down.

Now just do the same with your other oatmeal box half and you'll have two ready to go. I didn't line these boxes or make them look nice on the inside because it wasn't necessary for my purposes. Here are a couple other ways I've used this folding technique with some larger boxes and postal paper purchased at the dollar store.

The favor box for the monster baby shower was out of a used box with the flaps cut off and the dollar store postal paper.

I used wrapped boxes to organize all of the laundry supplies on the dryer. You would not believe what a mess this was before!

I've also used them to organize miscellaneous hardware and tools on a shelf under the basement stairs, and to organize the mess of the junk drawer. It looks better than having plain ol' boxes to hold things! Hope you can find some uses for them too!