If you're a Girl Scout Mom like me, you are currently surrounded with cases of girl scout cookies.  Hopefully your cases are getting empty quickly as all your cookies are being delivered. :) Fortunately our haul is dwindling.  I was getting ready to recycle all of our cases when inspiration struck.  Why not turn them into magazine and book holders for my daughters' bookshelves?

I've been looking at magazine/book holders for some time and couldn't find what I liked. The sturdy cardboard boxes allow for cutting, painting and reusing.  Perfect!

Step 1:  I cut off the tops of the boxes that fold down. At this point, you just have an empty box with no lid.

Step 2:  I then turned the box on its' side and made a diagonal cut from about 3 inches up to the top of the box, then across the top (as shown) and back down the other side to make them even.  You can see how to do it from the photo.

When set up this way, it can hold about 40 magazines.  Much better than having them stacked up or laying around!


Step 3:  Of course, I have to paint everything, so I took one of the cases of Peanut Butter Patties and sponged over it with red and white acrylic paint.  I tried to match the color of paint to the color on the side of the box just to make life easier.  I was very happy with the results!

 

Here's the other side:

You can also turn them on their side if you have shorter books and use them for small book storage too.  This was very quick, easy and inexpensive to do!