i'm never making another earring holder - aka jewelry organization pt. 2

That’s probably an exaggeration…. haha. This one should be big enough to fit all my earrings for a looong time anyway! This attempt was with the blue frame I got at Goodwill the other day.



Back story: I have quite a few earrings, but most of the time they hide in my jewelry box so I never think about them when I’m getting dressed. A lot of my earrings have stud posts as opposed to the fish hook kind, so, while I liked the idea of the picture frame as earring storage, I didn’t think that’d be the most convenient kind of storage for those, since you’d have to get the back off the other side of the frame. Sooo long story short [they don’t teach you in design school that no one in the real world really cares what your rationale for your project is haha] I decided to cut/reassemble the frame so it’d stand up on my dresser.



This gave me an excuse to see if I still could work a table saw :) After removing the picture/glass/assorted nails, I took the frame, cut it in half, then tilted the blade to a 30 degree angle and cut the ends. I wish we had a chop saw, that would have probably been much easier [aka more cooperative] in that it wouldn’t have spit back leftover pieces in my general direction. Regardless, I made it through with all appendages intact and my frame more or less cut the way I wanted… had to sand a few spots, but that took about 5 seconds with the Dremel. Not gonna lie, I kinda love power tools :D Then I glued the pieces together, let them dry overnight, stapled the burlap into the frame, et voila!



Projects like this make me miss studio/the design process, but hey, I can do stuff like this on my own time now and not have to worry about being graded on it! Now to finish putting the rest of my earrings on there…

burlap brooch display

I had some things to take to Goodwill this morning and made the mistake of going inside to shop afterwards. I think I came out with almost as much as I donated... haha. I wish you got credits for donating stuff that you could spend there - that would be so greatttt.



Among other scores [brand new Banana Republic blouse with the tags still on for $3.50!], I hit the jackpot with these two frames [one without anything in it = less work for me :D]. I’ve been wanting to attempt a jewelry storage picture frame for a while, so these were perfect!

first attempt: smaller picture frame

materials -

• picture frame
• pliers to remove old staples
• staple gun + staples
• burlap
• contrast fabric [I used the edge of some old sheets so I wouldn’t have to sew anything… laziness ftw!]

process -



Remove any leftover staples from frame with pliers. Cut strips of contrasting fabric to a little more than the approximate width and arrange to your liking, then use the staple gun to attach. Staple guns are kind of simultaneously terrifying and way too much fun to use… haha.



I kinda like the frame done just like this… could be interesting wall art if you made a few using similar fabrics and clustered them together :D More things to file away in my mind under the ‘future apartment decor’ category!



Cut a piece of burlap sized about an inch wider all the way around than the opening. I placed the frame on top of the burlap and traced around the outside edge to give myself plenty of extra fabric. Use the staple gun to attach to the inside of one side of the frame, then do the opposite side, making sure to stretch the fabric nice and tight. Once those two sides are done, repeat for the other two sides.



This is what it should look like when you’re done stapling. After that, you can cut the extra burlap so it’s flush with the back of the frame. Just to make sure it won’t unravel, I went around the inside edge with hot glue.



And now you’ve got a fancy jewelry holder! I used this one for my brooches since I always forget about them hiding in my jewelry box. Stay tuned for the next attempt with the blue frame - I’m about halfway through that one because I had to wait for glue to dry - but it involves disagreements with crazy intense table saws and me breaking out my Dremel from its retirement since third year studio, fun times :D

fabric scrap flowers

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to knock a dent in the ridiculous amount of fabric I’ve accumulated over the past couple of years. It’s almost hoarder status - I even keep tiny scraps on the off chance I might find something to do with them. Guess it’s a good thing I did, because I keep seeing flower pins/brooches everywhere on Pinterest, so I thought I’d try my own version today, because Super Bowl commercials can only entertain me for so long :D

materials -

 

• fabric scraps, cut into strips - 1/2” - 1” seems to work the best. I like using a couple different sizes for variation]
• felt scraps - they’re the backing so you can use any color
• hot glue gun - I’m not such a fan of hot glue because it’s so stringy but since it sets up so quickly it’s probably the easiest to use
• scissors
• pins/barrettes/whatever you want to put your flowers on

process -

Put a dab of glue in the middle of your felt scrap. Attach one end of the fabric strip to the glue.

Begin twisting the fabric and wrapping it around the middle, securing with more hot glue.

Continue wrapping and gluing until you reach the desired size.

Once you get to the size you want, trim excess felt, then secure fabric to the back with some glue.

You can stop here and put your flower on a pin or whatever, or you can make several and cluster them together to your liking, then glue them together.

I decided to make a brooch for my first attempt, but I think I’m gonna make some smaller ones and glue them to bobby pins or a headband. They’d be cute as a necklace, too! So many possibilities :D