Jewelry: Sorted

I love jewelry. I don't have a lot of it, but that's changing. I own a beautiful silver-toned jewel box, but it doesn't hold everything. This means my baubles make a mess of my nightstand or get tangled in a bag.  I decided that it would be nice to create a nice display organizer to go over my night stand. This would be my second attempt at a solution actually. The last one was a minor disaster and an even bigger eyesore. I didn't even bother to photograph it. This is better. Just better.

I started with two old store bought pictures that I didn't have a place for in my house. The frames on them were gorgeous, and I came to realize that's why I still had them. They had sage colored mats however, and that did not fit the plan. In fact, that just made the mats look dingy. Black acrylic paint solved this problem nicely. I used a dry brush and applied the paint sparingly and the result gave it a woody, natural looking texture. Next,  I prepared the cardboard backing from the original picture by covering it in craft foam sheets in black. I just used my hot glue gun for this because I  was feeling impatient and didn’t want to wait for white glue to dry. Also using hot glue, I covered the padded side of the board with a fat corner of black fabric. This all got reassembled (minus the picture) into the frame. This was easy for this frame because I didn’t have to remove any of the staples that secure everything in place.

This is the cardboard backing covered in foam. I had just enough!

To actually have somewhere to place the jewelry, I turned to wine corks. I have a collection of these as well. I chose the cheap artificial ones for this because I have more of these and because of their uniformity. For post earrings I cut the corks in half and wrapped them with silver-toned wire strung with purple glass seed beads. I attached them using screws and hot glue. Run the screw through the back of the board to the front the screw the cork about halfway onto the screw. Add a drop of hot glue, then finish attaching the cork. Add a drop of ho glue over the head of the screw for extra security. The earrings just slip into the cork, and I only keep the backs in the jewelry box.

For bracelets and rings, I used whole corks with divots carved into the sides. I decorated these with more wire, and a silver mother of pearl at each end of the cork. I attached these one at either end of the inner mat using the previous technique. The rings are placed on bamboo sticks that lay in the grooves. For the bracelets I glued several sticks together for strength. The rings and bracelets get placed between the corks and nothing slides off.

I love this so far. Another part that I love is that I can add to it. As you can see, I began using it before adding a second row of earrings and the bracelets. I have the other frame to use for necklaces, but I haven't decided on a design there yet. There are quite a few of chains, beads, and ribbons, and some are quite long, so I want to get it right. At any rate, I hope this design inspires you to create something good looking and useful out of your odds and ends. Please feel free to drop me a comment below, and be sure to check back every so often. I have a few other projects in the works that I can't wait to finish and share with you. Some even involve antiques!

A Simple Fabric Covered Box

Hello again crafty budgeters. I had a free evening and a small annoyance to tackle recently and so I stopped procrastinating and got to work. Hubby and I sit daily on our full-sized couch. Its soft and comfy and gives us way to much space too plop things down on the cushion in the center. Seriously, remotes, cell phones, notebooks, mice and keyboards, etc. It gets to the point where we start knocking things off and blaming each other for pushing in back and forth. My solution comes in the form of a small cardboard box, two fat quarters, Elmer's glue, and and some foam padding.

This little box was the perfect size for my needs. Just big enough to contain the junk that made simply sitting down a chore. I colored the outside of the box black to avoid its previously white and black print to show through. Frozen juice concentrate is not the look I was aiming for after all. I then cut a piece of the black fabric large enough to cover the entirety of the outside of the box, as well as the inside upright edges. I affixed it to the box with a thin coat of Elmer's white glue as though I were wrapping a gift and adding more glue to the flaps. The patterned fabric was used to cover the foam pad I added to the bottom. This was done to reduce the noise and potential damage of things being tossed in carelessly (yes, referring to myself).

  

That last application of glue necessitated the extra inserts seen above. I simply sized two thin pieces of card stock from junk mail and glued a bit of the patterned fabric neatly to them. I glued them over the messy flaps. So much better.

Here's everything all neatly assembled. Since I literally bought nothing for this project I cannot accurately give an idea of the costs. I often pick up fabric remnants and fat corners on clearance, and I had these on hand already. I've also been known to re-purpose other sources of material from sheets, old clothes, etc. so get creative. Let me know what you think of this quickie craft in the comments below.

Also, I need a wall-mountable jewelry storage solution. Any ideas?

DIY Cat Scratcher? Why not?

While perusing kitten toys, I noticed those cardboard cat scratch boards. I thought to myself, "That's brilliant." That thought was cut short however because my eyes fell to the price on the shelf. Ten dollars for the equivalent of a shoe box lid filled with strips of corrugated cardboard tightly arranged within. I figured this could easily be made for free, and set about proving that theory.

The first step, as I saw it, was finding a containing box. I had a few smaller Amazon boxes around, and so I cut one down to be about 2 1/2 inches tall. For the filler, I cut the flaps from a portable freezer shipping box. It is quite thick and sturdy, and so it seemed perfect. I then cut the flaps into strips matching the height of the box. The strips are folded into accordions to fill the entire container as tightly as possible. This is where things get tricky if you don't have a straight edge, as I found out on my first attempt. The layers are uneven, and that just seems unfinished. Also, it is too small. The test kitten liked it, but only for small stretches as she got frustrated that she couldn't sit on it and scratch at the same time.

So, because all I really did wrong was to take was to be lazy with the project was to think too small and make shortcuts, I was able adapt my same idea. I used a ruler to make the goods in the strips even and used much larger containing bow. It was the lid from a cardboard storage tote. I decided to add a bit of glue in between the slats to keep things neat. Since my test kitten loves it, I plan to dress it up by covering it in fabric, but for now, this is one perfectly serviceable, nearly free cat scratcher.

Meet Willow, the test kitten.

She likes to lounge and scratch here. I feel rewarded.