Looking for a fun and eco-friendly way to reuse empty milk cartons? This Milk Carton Pen Pot Craft is a fantastic upcycling project that transforms a simple tetra pack into a stylish storage solution.
Whether you’re making a thoughtful teacher’s gift or adding a creative touch to your desk, this DIY pen holder is both practical and sustainable.
Why You’ll Love This Milk Carton Craft
- Eco-friendly – Reduce waste by repurposing an old milk carton.
- Waterproof & Durable – Perfect for storing pens, felt tips, or even craft tools.
- Customisable – Decorate with your favourite patterns to match any interior.
- Great for Gifting – A handmade, practical present that teachers, friends, and family will love.
- Versatile – It can be made and used for storing so many different items.
Materials Needed:
- 1 empty milk carton or similar (cleaned and dried)
- Patterned paper (wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, or fabric)
- Glue (glue stick or PVA glue) – glue sticks are better for this type of project.
- Craft knife or scissors
- Metal Ruler – I have a stiff 30cm Draper metal ruler with no flex that I prefer to use for projects like this. Plus a longer cork backed flexible metal ruler
- Pen or pencil
- Cutting mat (optional, but helpful) – A3 cutting mats are the most useful as you can use them to protect surfaces. But A4 would be fine as well.
How To Make Your Make Your Milk Carton Craft Pen Pot
Cut Your Milk Carton
Decide how tall you want your pen pot to be. Use a ruler to measure and mark a straight line at your desired height. Then carefully cut along it using a craft knife or scissors(a craft knife is easier). For reference, the Avengers-themed pen pot shown is 11.5cm tall.
Prepare Your Covering Paper
Cut a piece of patterned paper large enough to wrap around the milk carton with a 2.5cm overlap. Leave 2-5cm extra at the top so you can fold it over and glue it to the inside of the carton for a neat edge finish. Take care to look at how the pattern joins up.
Glue the Paper to the Carton
Start with one side at a time. Apply glue to the milk carton (not the paper) and press the paper firmly into place, making sure the pattern and paper edges align correctly. If using liquid glue, apply it thinly and evenly to prevent excessive paper wrinkling and creases. Some rippling is normal as the paper will absorb the moisture and stretch. Most of the ripples will disappear when dry but there may be a little texture left.
Finish the Edges
Carefully cut each corner of the overhanging paper, fold it over inside the carton, and glue it securely in place.
Enjoy Your DIY Pen Pot!
And that’s it! Your upcycled milk carton pen pot is ready to be filled with pens, pencils, or craft supplies.
Looking for more upcycled craft ideas? Check out our other eco-friendly upcyled projects and try making an upcycled milk carton vase for a beautiful, sustainable home décor piece!
Fab & Fun Idea , I Be Making A Few Of These x
Wish I could find milk carton;s, we have plastic milk jugs. Great idea for kids at lower school. atk
Very effective and useful too. Brilliant for school age kids. Wonder if my son will make one for his halls at uni 😉
Love, love, love these. They are ace and I will be making with the boys
What a fantastic creative and low cost teacher’s gift idea! Fab.
I love this idea, so much fun and also practical. Big fan of the comic book paper too!
Oh this looks amazing, I think I will get the kids making them next week when they are on their holidays.
That’s a great idea, especially as they’re waterproof, very creative.
Very fancy pen pots, love them! Much better than the Pringles pot we have 😉
Just had a huge flashback from my Blue Peter watching days (a long time ago!). What a brilliant idea, looks awesome – must make one of these for POD. Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
What a fab idea and I especially like your owl one.
This looks like a fab wet weather activity for the Summer Holidays!
These are beautiful and look so versatile, Very useful.
What a great idea and they look so nice, perfect for my colouring pencils 😉 x
This is a brilliant idea – cannot leave pens on display at the moment with young Sebby around but cannot wait until its safe and can do things like this
Very crafty and I like the comic book theme.
They look great!! I’d like to make some with my little boy, I think he’s really like a Thomas and Friends one 🙂 x
what a superb idea , ideal I think for teacher gifts as well
This is fab and so easy! It’ll keep the kids occupied for a while, think we’ll give this a go
What a great idea – I think I will get my teens making some! Love the Marvel (is it Marvel?) paper too 😉 Kaz x