Turn Cardboard And Plastic Bottles Into The Cutest Tabletop Organizer With This DIY

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Plastic bottles have a way of piling up. And, of course, you should recycle them. But they're also highly versatile when it comes to DIY projects. There are many easy ways to repurpose plastic bottles around the house. You've probably seen old soda bottles turned into chic planters or DIY decorative vases made by using plastic bottles, but this handmade craft might just be the cutest yet.

Inspired by Instagram creator @ektas.charm.studio, this project uses plastic bottles and cardboard scraps to create a charming tabletop organizer with four compartments. It's perfect for corralling all those little items that tend to clutter your space. The project is simple: each bottle becomes its own mini container, while cardboard acts as the base holding everything together. Add in fabric, rope details, and a couple decorative touches, and suddenly your humble materials are transformed into something both incredibly useful and stylish.

To pull off this DIY, you won't need anything fancy. Just gather four old plastic bottles, some fabric, cardboard scraps, a hot glue gun, and jute twine similar to PerkHomy jute rope. With a little cutting, gluing, and wrapping, you'll be giving those empty bottles a second life — and bringing to life something extremely adorable.

How to turn plastic bottles and cardboard into a tabletop organizer

Make sure your plastic bottles are clean and free of labels. Using the box cutter, carefully remove the neck or top third from each one to create four open containers. Next, wrap the fabric of your choosing around each one and secure it with a line of glue, cutting off the excess. Leave a bit of the bottom exposed along with a couple inches at the top. Once that's done, hot glue jute rope around the uncovered top edge of each bottle.

For the base, cut a square piece of cardboard large enough to hold all four bottles snugly in two rows, with space in the center for a bottle cap. Hot glue that cap right in the middle, then attach each bottle to the base by its bottom. Afterward, cut four cardboard strips to line the perimeter. They should be a bit over wide enough to cover the exposed plastic and long enough for each side. Glue them into place around the base to create a border. To finish, wrap and glue jute rope around the cardboard sides and glue a braided strip along the top edges so no cardboard shows. Add a decorative rope ribbon between two containers for a final touch. 

But you don't have to stop there, or even complete that last step. The beauty of this craft is how customizable it is. You can play around with lace, pearls, colorful trims, or other embellishments to match your style. Or, use a different number of bottles and adjust the configuration — you might use a row of three bottles, for example. When you're done, use your tabletop organizer for pens, makeup brushes, lip glosses, eyeliners, craft tools, or whatever you want to organize.

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