Our email exchange two days before the upload went like this:

Airees: I got my first issue of Donna Downey's newsletter which I subscribe to. Would you believe she has a section in her newsletter TRASH TO TREASURE and her first topic about it is "TOILET PAPER TUBES" (yun pala ang term dun!). Naku, baka isipin nila ginaya ko si Donna Downey!

Angela: Airees, your edited article is with Mabelle already since last week. I will leave it up to Mabelle if she still wants to "correct" the term for the Toilet Paper Tubes.

Mabelle: Goes to show how original you are Airees! You are on the same wavelength as Donna Downey for the Toilet Paper Tubes but we are DEFINITELY ahead of her with the term Trash to Treasures! :) Keep doing what you do best: saving our precious paper cutouts from the trashbin and transforming them to something wonderful. :)

Materials needed:
3 rolls of tissue “spine”
Large scraps of patterned paper or gift wrapper
Small piece of cardboard
Glue, Ruler, Piece of ribbon, Tag

In our household, we consume about 3-4 rolls of tissue per week. I've always had this obsession over those empty tissue “spines” because at the back of my mind, I know that I can use them for my future craft projects. I've already collected a number of empty tissue rolls. But for now, they usually end up being used by my kids as toy telescopes or binoculars!

That is, until I finally came up with an idea to use these rolls as a pen and tool organizer. Here's how:

For this project you will need 3 tissue spines. Next, gather up your bigger scraps of patterned paper or any paper big enough to cover the entire roll. Here, I used the free patterned papers I got from a scrapbook magazine.

Cover each tissue roll entirely with patterned paper or gift wrapper. Be sure to have an extra allowance of the paper on each end of the roll about ½ (one half) the height of the entire roll. The excess paper will be used to cover the interior of the tissue spine.

Cut the excess paper into fringes, about ½” wide each. This will make it easier to cover the inside of the tissue roll and give it a neater appearance. Glue and fold inward.

Next, get a small piece of cardboard – this can be from a discarded shoebox, corrugated board from your last order of pizza, or any thicker board would do. Just make sure it's large enough to fit the 3 rolls standing side by side. Cover the cardboard with patterned paper.

Attach the rolls side by side, forming a straight line. Then, apply glue on the bottom end of the tissue rolls and adhere to the cardboard base. Allow glue to dry for a few minutes.

TIP: Use the part of the wrapped tissue spine where the edge of the paper is and stick that on the same part of the other tissue roll so the end of the wrapper can't be seen.

Once the glue is dry, tie a ribbon around the 3 rolls and embellish with a tag. Now you have a pen and tool holder! So s tart saving those empty tissue rolls and put them to good use instead of throwing them into the trash can.

Variations:
•  Depending on how many pens or tools you want to organize, you can add as many tissue rolls as you want. It can be arranged in a straight line, side by side, or like a pyramid, depending on the amount of space where you want display it.
•  You can label each roll using tags & ribbon for easy identification of your stuff.
•  Use patterned papers or wrappers with your child's favorite cartoon character to wrap the tissue roll for a more personalized pen/pencil/crayon holder. Add a tag with a monogram of your child's name.