Stop throwing away shampoo bottles. Upcycle them into pencil cups instead.

Shampoo bottles are problematic. They're nearly always made of plastic, and it's often not the kind you can send off to a recycling plant. If you're concerned about adding more plastic to the landfill but don't want to start making your own DIY shampoo, then your best bet is to start upcycling your shampoo bottles to give them extended life.

Learn how to turn a simple old shampoo bottle into a decorative pencil cup. By adding your original art and some washi tape to the exterior, you'll create a one-of-a-kind pencil holder that should make you smile each time you notice it anew on your desk. You can make one for each person in the house to keep your art supplies separate. Plus, these make exceptional gifts, especially if you wrap them up with a set of pencils. Before you know it, all your empty shampoo bottles will be put to good use.

Materials
- Shampoo bottle, washed and dried
- Painter's tape
- Utility knife
- Scissors
- Card stock decorated with a design, such as roses; buy preprinted or draw your own
- White glue
- Granite print washi tape

Instructions
1. Place shampoo bottle flat on your work surface.

2. Apply painter's tape all the way around the bottle, just beneath the neck.

3. Press into the plastic with the utility knife to make a small hole under the painter's tape. Then cut all the way around, following the line of the painter's tape, to remove the top portion of the bottle, which you can discard.

4. Trim around the jagged cut edge that you've just made using scissors. Clean up the edge so it's smooth and straight.

5. Cut a piece of decorative card stock into a rectangle. It should be almost the size of one side of the cut shampoo bottle, leaving approximately 1/8 inch of the bottle showing around each edge.

6. Apply white glue to the back of the cut piece of card stock. Press firmly into place on one side of the shampoo bottle.

7. Wrap a strip of washi tape all the way around the top edge of the shampoo bottle.

8. Fill your pencil cup with supplies and place it on your desk.