25 Easy Ideas For The Perfect DIY Pencil Holder

Whether you want to kick off the new school year with a funky DIY project or to make something cool and original for your office, a DIY pencil holder is a great idea that can materialize itself in lots and lots of interesting ways.

DIY Pencil Holder

We’ve put together some of our favorite projects of DIY pencil holders and we can’t wait to share them with you, so let’s get started.

The Best DIY Pencil Holder Ideas

1. Rustic Wooden Pencil Holder

Crayon pencil vase

This rustic DIY pencil holder is awesome for a variety of reasons. It’s easy to make, it’s sturdy and durable and it looks cool too. Another great thing about it is that you can make it as big or as small as you want just by cutting the block of wood to the desired length. Make the holes as big as you want by using the appropriate wood bore.

2. Compact Holder For Small Desks

Crayon pencil vase

A pencil holder made from a block of wood can also be compact, like this one. This shape and size is suitable for pretty much any regular office space. It can hold a few pens and pencils and even scissors and other small tools but isn’t great for colored pencils or more than a few items. The metallic gold spray paint gives it a very chic look. Check out the full tutorial to find out how to make your own gilded pencil holder from scratch.

3. Colored Rope Pencil Cup

Crayon pencil vase

If you want your new DIY pencil holder to be extra cute, you should have a look at this custom kitty rope design. It’s super cute and to make it you only need a few basic things like a glass, some colored rope, a hot glue gun, and some black thread for the whiskers plus a tiny bit of felt for that cute little pink nose.

4. Adorable Wooden Hedgehog Pencil Holder

Crayon pencil vase

Another cute idea can be to make a wooden pencil holder that looks like a hedgehog. It would come out pretty small since you’d have to use a wooden egg but that only makes it even cuter. In addition to the egg, you’ll also need a drill, four small wooden beads for the legs and another one for the nose, and a glue gun. The pencils will act like spikes. You can find all the details about the project in the tutorial featured on phar-ma.

5. Simple And Quick Ring Pencil Cup

Crayon pencil vase

Maybe this pencil holder isn’t as adorable as the hedgehog or the kitty ones but it is super chic and easy to make. The idea for its design comes from yourdiyfamily.  This pencil holder is made out of 8 gym rings (the 2.67” kind), two popsicle sticks (or some thick card), all secured together with wood glue. Obviously, you can use fewer or more rings or make the pencil holder wider.

7. Funky Brick Pencil Holder

Crayon pencil vase

It’s entirely possible to make unique pencil holders out of reclaimed or repurposed objects. In fact, there are a lot of cool ideas in this sense, one of which comes from grillo-designs. Some bricks, as it turns out, have small holes, just big enough for a pencil to fit in. That means you can turn a brick into a pencil holder. To make it look more attractive you can paint it first.

8. Upcycled Toilet Paper Roll Pencil Cup

Crayon pencil vase

You know those cardboard tubes in paper towel rolls? They’re surprisingly strong and sturdy and they’re also perfect for making a pencil holder out of them. Try to find tubes of different sizes so you can mix and match them. Cut them each to the desired length and then group them up, spray paint them, and glue them onto a flat piece of cardboard. This unusual but very creative idea comes from yellowgirl.

9. Plastic Bottle Travel Pencil Holder

Crayon pencil vase

A plastic bottle can be repurposed and reused in a lot of cool ways and one of the most interesting transformation ideas has to do with nothing other than the basic DIY pencil holder. Check out our youtube tutorial to find out how you can use two plastic bottles to make a pencil case with a zipper. It’s easier than you think. Also, you can decorate the case you want to.

10. Customizable Clay Pencil Holder

Crayon pencil vase

Air-dry clay is a really cool resource. You can use it to make a ton of cool and interesting things, including a geometric pencil holder like the one featured on linesacross. Obviously, you can shape yours however you want but we suggest simple geometric forms with symmetric lines because they’re easier to get right. For the holes just use actual pencils while the clay is still soft.

11. Crayon Circle Pencil Holder

Crayon pencil vase

A pencil holder made of pencils…that’s pretty poetic. Actually, the one featured on apumpkinandaprincess is made of crayons but that’s pretty cool too. Of course, there’s more to it than that. What you don’t see in this picture is the fact that all those colored crayons are attached to a tin can using double-sided tape. The ribbon and twine complete the look and also help to keep the crayons in place. You can make this as a cute gift for someone or for yourself.

12. Waste Not Want Not Cassette Tape Pencil Holder

Waste Not Want Not Cassette Tape Pencil Holder

Chances are there are probably a few things around your house that you have just accepted that you will never use. One of those is any old cassette tapes you may still have. Instead of leaving them to eventually be thrown away, take four of your best-looking cassette tapes, hot glue, and a square of thick cardboard and make them into a pencil holder. The exact instructions for this project can be found on Upcycle That, but this project is so easy you really shouldn’t need them!

13. Unique Corn Pencil Holder

Unique Corn Pencil Holder

Pencil holders aren’t just needed for the office space, but also for your kids’ desk and maybe even for your kitchen counter! When you are looking for something to fit in with your farmhouse flair kitchen, consider making this fun corn cob pencil holder. All it takes is a toilet paper roll (empty), beans, paint, glue, and some green felt! Although the example in Crafts By Amanda features classic yellow corn, don’t be afraid to make red, blue, or even a mixed color corn cob.

14. Recycled Can Pencil Holder Cup

Recycled Can Pencil Holder Cup

Recyclable materials are simply the best when it comes to using items around your house to make a pencil cup. This next idea was featured on Inspirations By D and involves keeping a tin can that you would otherwise throw out. You will need to wash it well and let it dry. Then comes the fun part, take any type and design of paper you want and glue it to the outside of the can. You can also add stickers, drawings, or anything else that you desire. This is truly the most customizable pencil cup ever.

15. Backyard Stump Pencil Holder Forest

Backyard Stump Pencil Holder Forest

Do you have an old tress stump in your backyard? Or maybe a few slices of birch laying around? If you’ve also got a drill, then this makes it easy to make this awesome stump pencil holder like they did in Craft and Creativity. This holder isn’t very traditional, and will definitely take up a lot of room on your desk, but it is a great way to store a set of markers that you can pull out when your kids want to color!

16. Quick Embroidered Carton Pencil Holder

Quick Embroidered Carton Pencil Holder

The cool thing about pencil holders is that they don’t have to be anything fancy, especially if you are the type of person who likes to change them out frequently! This idea for a pencil holder was found on Pyssel Bolgat and can be made with a bottle or carton after you have emptied it. You will then personalize your pencil holder using a hole punch and yarn. In the example, only two rows of yarn were added to each pencil holder, but you can also feel free to add more.

17. Cork Coaster Pencil Holder

Cork Coaster Pencil Holder

Cork coasters are a common sight in most households, but what do you do when you upgrade your coasters to something new but don’t want to throw out the old ones? You make them into a pencil holder of course! This project from Design For Mankid only takes a few minutes and will just require a drill and some glue (in addition to the coasters). This pencil holder isn’t very big, but the project is so simple that you can make two or three and glue them together if you need more space for all of your supplies.

18. Yoplait Cup Pencil Holder

Yoplait Cup Pencil Holder

When it comes to DIY Pencil Holders, the materials you can use to create them truly are endless. This next idea from Simply Joy involves taking a Yoplait container (empty and clean of course) and covering it in colorful or decorative paper. This is a great rainy-day activity for kids because you can additionally cover these in solid paper and let your kids glue glitter, jewels, and even foam pieces to design their very own pencil cup.

19. Old Toy Pencil Holder

Old Toy Pencil Holder

Another thing you may find laying around your house that is great to use for a project is old toys that your children no longer play with. On Instructables, one mother found herself at a loss for what to do with all her children’s k’nex toys after they had outgrown them. That’s when she discovered they could be used to build things she needed around her home like a pencil holder. Besides just k’nex, you could also just Legos, or any toy that can be used to build to create your personal pencil holder.

20. Mature Foam Board Multi-Level Pencil Holder

Mature Foam Board Multi-Level Pencil Holder

As cute as the above idea is, when you have a high school or college student on your hands, a pencil cup made out of their old toys probably isn’t going to make the cut. Rather, you should take the time to design this nice foam pencil holder from Lovely Indeed. It’s large enough for all their supplies and nice enough looking that it almost looks store bought! And your son or daughter will absolutely love being able to decorate the exterior to match their dorm room or their school colors.

21. Sweet Heart Fabric Pencil Holder

Sweet Heart Fabric Pencil Holder

For those that know how to sew, the next pencil holder on this list is the perfect side project to create when you need a break from whatever you are working on. And it’s so easy to make, that these can also be a great project to introduce to someone who is learning to sew. You will just need fabric, scissors, a zipper, and needle and thread (or a sewing machine would be much faster!) This project from Crafts Unleashed is highly customizable as you can choose different styles of fabric, and skip the heart altogether when you want something less feminine.

22. Mason Jar Pencil Holder

Mason Jar Pencil Holder

Mason jars appear on almost every list of DIY projects, and this list of pencil holders is no exception. Even if there aren’t any mason jars laying around your house, you can easily recycle a mayonnaise or salsa jar for this project. You’ll need some paint to coat the inside of the jar, as well as some paper to wrap around the outside. You can follow this example in Modpodge Rocks Blog, or you could use other colors and some twine to make a country farmhouse themed pencil jar.

23. Delicate Doily Pencil Cup

Delicate Doily Pencil Cup

There are different levels of DIY projects, and when you are new to the DIY world, some of the projects on this list may seem like they are quite daunting. This delicate doily pencil cup from Nica Bella is a great intro into the DIY world because you will be taking a clear pencil cup purchased from the store, and gluing doilies to it. For master DIYers, this project can also be done with a tin can (wrapped in solid paper first) or a mason jar, it’ll just be a little more interesting to roll!

24. Ruler Tin Can Pencil Holder

Ruler Tin Can Pencil Holder

If you haven’t figured it out by now, you can basically make a pencil holder out of anything you can dream of! On Eighteen 25, they decided to take rulers and glue them to a tin can to create a traditional pencil cup, but because rulers are so rigid, you don’t even need the can—you can just glue them directly to each other. This creates endless options for the shape, size, and height of your pencil holder, the only hard part will be sawing or cutting, the rulers so they are all the same size.

25. Origami Pencil Holder

Origami Pencil Holder

Origami is the unique art of folding paper into cut shapes like animals and flowers. But origami can also be useful in everyday life—to make things like, you guessed it, a pencil holder for your desk! The guide for this project can be found on Ranker, and will only take a couple pieces of paper—and some talent at folding of course. This project isn’t as fun as some of the others, but you can always draw on the paper before you fold it, or add some stickers or glitter once it is complete.

Back to school season can always be stressful, but at least this year you won’t have to worry about buying a pencil holder because you can easily make several of your own! Not only that, but most of these ideas are so easy and simple, that you won’t feel bad when you switch out your pencil cup halfway through the year. No matter which of these DIY pencil holders you decide to make, you will love having a piece of your creativity always present on your desk.