Liz makes a utensil holder from an oatmeal container

I've had this oatmeal canister on top of my kitchen cabinets for months now, just begging me to upcycle it into something useful. I finally thought of a great way to reuse it today -- a kitchen utensil holder! You see, I have this drawer in my kitchen designated for kitchen utensils, but it's not organized and just full of nonsense. This is just perfect!

Now when I'm cooking and I need a utensil, I can just grab it because it'll be right next to the stove instead of digging around the drawer of terror. See what I mean? Geez.

You'll need an old container (oatmeal, coffee, etc.), double sided tape, two or three different shades of construction paper and scissors. I didn't take a picture of the first step, but that's okay because it's super easy. I used my yellow construction paper and taped it onto the oatmeal canister. I had to use two pieces of paper because one wouldn't go all the way around. That's okay because if you put the seam in the back, nobody will ever see it!

Now we'll be making the chevron strip of paper that goes around the top of the oatmeal canister. Cut four strips of construction paper 1/2" wide, two in one color, two in a contrasting color.

1. Using double-sided tape, connect one blue strip and one black strip perpendicularly on top of the second blue strip.

2. Now tape the second black strip on top of the strips you just taped.

3. Fold the blue strip on the right so it's now on the left and parallel with the other strips.Make sure the edge is straight.

4. Fold the blue strip (on the top) on the left side over to the right so it's perpendicular with the blue strip in step three.

5. Repeat steps three & four with the black strips.

6. Continue on until you've run out of paper.

I wanted my chevron strip to be longer, so I went ahead and taped more strips on and continued on with the process.

This is what mine looked like after four strips of each color.

After you're all done, cut of excess and tape the ends down.

Tape it around the top of your oatmeal canister. I suppose you could also tape it around the middle or the bottom, but I like it around the top.

I think it turned out great! I love it and I can't believe I didn't do it sooner.

Have a great week!

Love, Liz