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?

Where I Get Ideas to Try

Hello fellow budgeters! I've been away for quite awhile, I know. Things have been a special kind of crazy in my life ranging from no car (resolved) to training for a new position at work. Family changes have been a constant too, so I haven't had the time to tackle many household annoyances or try many crafts.

Now that I'm getting used to my new schedule and family obligations I have decided that it is time to reclaim my thrifty creativeness. While I do have many original ideas born of necessity, I often base ideas on things, posts, videos, and tutorials I see both in real life and online. I thought I would share some of these ideas with you to help get your creative juices flowing.

Pinterest

This is routinely my first stop. Other people have scoured the internet looking for solutions to problems, and have kindly placed links to them all in one easy to find place. I mostly use this for recipes, but I'd be lying if I said that was all. I find that unless you have ample time to scroll through the likely millions of posts available,  searching Pinterest by keyword is the way to go. I also find that sorting posts that I save helps to find them when I need them. I've even begun a board just for this blog to highlight the projects I've done here.

YouTube

I love YouTube. There are so many instructive videos that one can literally sit in front of it for hours and not even begin to scratch the surface of what is available. Jewelry design, life hacks, sewing tutorials, beauty DIYs, and technology how to's are just a few of the things I resort to YouTube for. Its not all fail and haul videos.

Hometalk

I have looked at Hometalk a few times in the past, but recently I have taken a closer look, and I am impressed! My countertops and cabinets were replaced a few months ago, and Hubby and I decided we wanted a backsplash. While we have put those plans on hold for a while, I found many ideas suitable for an apartment right on Hometalk. This is a great source for home décor and hack ideas.

Craft store sites (Michaels, Fire Mountain Gems, JoAnn's)

Retail sites have gone out of their way to ensure that you purchase what they're selling. One good side effect is that many craft supply sites will have free tutorials and patterns using the items that they sell. There are way too many to list here, but give it a try. You may be surprised. Don't forget to try product manufacturers too, such as Lion Brand Yarn, etc.

I hope this has been helpful. If so, please let me know in the comments. I love sharing gems like these, and would love to hear about any good sites you may have found. This is a topic I would love to revisit a bit more, and of course, find great new ideas!