Easy DIY Cardboard Carpenter Tote – 30-Day Crafting Challenge Day 11

Do you have a lot of cardboard boxes? I do – or I should say did. After figuring out a bunch of super easy DIY cardboard crafts – like this one, my cardboard boxes are now down to a minimum! I love figuring out ways to reduce, recycle, and reuse! And if you would rather reuse something for a craft instead of going out and buying new supplies, this craft is perfect for you.

Minimize the Supplies

Now I have to be honest, I love going to Dollar Tree and finding things that I can turn into a unique pieces for my decorating needs. And in the past, I have been guilty of bringing home lots of things from Dollar Tree with the intention of turning them into ‘something.

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But my craft room doesn’t need anything extra. My husband and I are also in the mindset of preparedness. This means we have a lot of extra stuff, just in case. Well, I think my prepping has also carried over into how I plan on crafting. Even if all of the stores and internet sites closed forever, I would be pretty much set for crafting.

Believe it or not, it’s getting better. And I have less stuff. Once I get finished with my daily crafting challenge ( or almost daily crafting challenge), it will be much easier to get everything organized. This leads me to the craft for the 11th day in the crafting challenge. Crafting something useable that I can decorate with and using cardboard to create it. A DIY cardboard craft that reduces waste and uses things I already have to create something awesome.

DIY Carpenter Tote – Using Cardboard

And because I have lots of cardboard, I decided to put it to use. Making this tote was so easy! I simply cut cardboard into pieces that I could make a tote.

I knew I wanted my tote to have tall sides. So I cut out a bunch of pieces like the photo above. The more cardboard pieces you have in the shape you want, the better. Because when you stack the pieces together it gives them more dimension, like wood. So I stacked up 3 pieces for each side.

Next, I needed the bottom of the tote, as well as the front and back sides. So I did the same thing. I cut out lots of pieces of cardboard for the bottom and the sides. I used a utility knife with a retractable blade. And I have a protective cutting mat that I lay down on my craft table while I’m cutting.

I found it better to have more pieces. And if I didn’t use the pieces, that’s ok. They are a lot smaller now. And I know I can find something else to create with the leftover pieces of cardboard.

Assembling the Tote

To assemble each side of the tote, I used craft glue. But Elmer’s glue would work just fine. Or any type of glue that you have really. And I layered each section and glued them together. Next, once all of the pieces were the thickness I wanted them to be, I secured them together and ‘built’ my carpenter’s tote using hot glue.

In the above photo, you can see the thickness of the layers I made my cardboard tote.

I also wanted to make my tote look like it was wood. And having the corrugated cardboard edges showing was not making this look like wood. So I took some masking tape and sealed all of the edges where you could see the corrugated sides.

When I was done assembling the tote, I added a wooden handle to the top. Now this was wood because I didn’t have a round cardboard piece that I could add. But if you have a paper towel roll or wrapping paper roll, this would work great.

Not too shabby right? All that’s left to do is paint the cardboard.

How to Paint Cardboard

Now this is where you need to get creative. In order for the cardboard to not LOOK cardboard, you need to do a little faux painting.

I found it easiest to paint one color, and then add another color. For example, I started with white chalk paint, and then I added a layer of burnt umber. But I wasn’t happy with the look. So I got a little more creative and added in a layer of drywall spackle.

The spackling compound added the texture I was wanting. And then I gave it one more coat of white chalk paint to get the look that I was going for. All I had to do was add some decorative accents, and my project was complete!

DIY Cardboard Carpenter Tote

Even though this tote is made of cardboard, it doesn’t look like cardboard. It looks like an aged tote that is a perfect addition to my decorating.

You can add flowers or keep it simple and just use some greenery pieces. Whichever you choose, I think you will be very happy with your DIY tote. I love mine! And think about what a fun gift this would be to make for someone.

How to DIY with Cardboard

And yes, I have a video showing you step-by-step how I made my cardboard carpenter tote. It’s easy, and it reduces your waste, which makes this a very affordable project.

Let me know your thoughts! What do you think of this? Do you like making crafts out of cardboard? Let me know!

Happy Crafting!