DIY Jewlery Organizer from a Picture Frame

I needed this jewlery organizer 

a long time ago! 

Usually my earrings are a big ol' mess all over my dressser. My husband complains about the cluttered look and it has been impossible to dust.
I used an old picture frame, eyelet, white cup hooks, and thumb tacks to make this wonderful organier.The frame is pretty big because I make jewery and so does my Mom and sisters. I have a lot of earrings.
I have seen several DIY organizers on Pintrest and my Daughter-in-law makes a hair accsesory organizer. Picture frames are the common denominator in all the organizers. Many have screen or wires to hang the jewlery from. I have found that my earrings  tarnish very quickly when in contact with metal. I was thinking I would use thin ribbon. Then I had a brillant idea. EYELET! That was it.  I jumped out of bed got dressed and ran downstrirs and dug out all my old pictures.

(This room is going to get new paint and new carpet by August 5th. This is all part of a larger makeover for the bedrooms in our house. More on that later.) Below is a list of supplies used and some instructions.

Supplies
Picture frame
Pliers
butter knife
Eyelet or lace
Thumb tacks
Cup Hooks


This is my old picture stash. Quite a collection! I wasn't sure which frame I wanted so I pulled all the pictures apart and then selected the biggest one! Not too suprising.





Most picture frames look like the one below. Bend the prongs up that hold the back and glass in. Throw the back and glass away or, if you are like me, keep both  for some unknown project in the future. I believe there is a name for this I call it recycling, my husband calls it horading!



Once you have selected a frame. Get out your eyelet or lace. I actually used some of both. Again, I just went to my sewing room and got out a baggie full of lace and eyelet. Most is from making baby blankets for my boys. My baby will turn 26 in September. I am telling you I never throw anything away!
Next, I measured and cut the lace and eyelet. I didn't get very precise on measurements. I started in about the middle and added one row about two inches above the middle row and another two inches below the middle. I continued like that until I got to the top.
Finally, I added te earrings and quickly discovered that the lace and eyelet needed to be much tighter. I took off all the earrings and adjusted all the rows. My suggestion is to pull them really tight from the begining. I would also suggest using 100% cotton eyelet. Polyester stretches a lot. If you look in the picture you can see some droopy rows, they are polyester. I MIGHT replace them. So far it hasn't bothered me. Sometimes things like that irritate me, but this doesn't seem to at this point.
The last thing is to hang up your frame. As I mentioned this room is going to get painted and so Mark refused to hang my organizier up properly. I don't blame him. no sense doing something twice.

I am going to make a smaller version of this for the night stand. I seem to crawl into bed with earrings on a lot. Once, a long time ago, a diamond earring fell in the garbage can next to my bed. I didn't realize it until after the garbage was taken out and the city picked up the trash! I cried for a long time that day!

A unexpected result of this new organizer, I found so many lost earrings. I had about six or seven different little cups and containers for my earrings before the organizer. As I emplied each container and hung up the earrings I found lots of misplaced earrings. Good thing I never throw anything away. See,  it is good to recycle.

Patriotic Centerpiece repeat

Fourth of July Centerpiece

I created this centerpiece back in 2010. I still have it and will use it again this July. I have made several of these centerpieces for different holidays like Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I like this project because it really shows that one's card making/scrap booking supplies can be used for more than the intended purpose. It isn't just for card making.

Items listed below are from Close To My Heart.

Inks: Tulip, Moonstruck and Indian Corn Blue.

Card stock: White Daisy, Outdoor Denim, and Tulip.

Stamp Sets: Adorable, In The Month Of July, A Twinkle, Calendar, Save The Date, Classmates Alphabet, and It's A Party.

Ribbon: Tulip and Outdoor Denim.

Other items: Bamboo Skewers, white ribbon and eyelets, bucket, candy, cicrle punch, star punch.

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

DIY Wax Paper Transfer

The sign I made

The DIY wax paper transfer method really works! I was so skeptical! I read about several DIY methods for transfering images in order to create decrotive items on the Graphics Fairy website.

(This is a fantastic website and I have spent hours looking at all the terrific images available there. Many items are available as a mirrored image so that it can be transfered onto another surface. Below is the image I downloaded.)

The Wax Paper method seemed like the easiest for me.

You need the following items:
Wax paper
Scissors
Printer
Computer
Wood, fabric or other surface
A rubbing tool like a popcycle stick or spoon.
Spray bottle for misting the wood

Basically, I cut a piece of wax paper to
8 1/2 x 11 inches and fed it into my Lexmark 4650 printer.
Next, I lightly misted a section of 1 by 10 inch piece of pine board. I then laid the wax paper ink side down, onto the board. Then, I rubbed the wax paper with a popcycle stick.
VIOLA! The ink went onto the wood and I have a new sign!
Mark has a router bit called a keyhole bit. He is going to use it to create a keyhole on the back of the piece of wood as a way to hang my sign.
 I think the plain wood is a little boring so I am going to experiment with white wash for the next attempt. I also want to somehow "ink" the edges to age the sign.
If you have been wondering about making a DIY sign I found it to be super easy once you have a piece of wood.
In the future, after I perfect the wooden sign, I want to try placemats and maybe a burlap pillow.

The mirrored image I downloaded from The Graphics Fairy

Harley Trip Smash Book

I created a Smash Book for Harley Trips. I have tried to do something similar in the past and failed. I always think I scrapbook our adventure once I return. Guess what? It never happens! New solution! Smash Booking. I created this Smash book before we left on the trip. I then packed a small makeup bag with stickers, markers and my Close To My Heart scissors. I threw in a few other small items and I bought a Smash stick. This is a glue stick and pen all in one. Along the way I wanted colored pencils and a black sharpie.
I was really worried that Mark would flip out about traveling with scrapbooking supplies on a Harley trip. SURPRISE! He didn't even care! WHEW.
Each morning and evening I would spend a few minutes writing about the days events. Mostly what roads we took and where we ate. Ride to eat is our motto! I am really proud of myself. The trip is well documented and I had fun doing it on the road.
The second day of the trip I strted collecting pamplets and brochures about the towns we were in I really like this page!

On this page is a photo I took while on the trip. I got a map of Idaho and collected some sticks and a cat tail and laid it all on the floor of our hotel room and took the picture. I printed it out when we got home. This last page is near the end. I had our friends take a piture of my husband and I at dinner on our last night. Again, I printed the pitures after we got home. I added in some missing details after we got home too.

We are going on one more Harley vacation and I plan to take my new little Smash book and supplies again. It is fun and easy and mostly done when I get home. How about you? Are you Smashbooking yet? 

Smash book

Smash books are my newest obsession!  I am not even sure where this blank book came from! The concept is perfect for me. Just gather up the stuff in you life and smash it in there. There really are no rules.This is a new craze (at lest to me) in scrapbooking.
I went looking through my craft stash and I have a few blank journals that will become smash books. I noticed that Close To My Heart has a blank journal they call a Crush  Book. I beleieve it is the same idea. Since I am no longer a consultant I am not positive.
 Below is my first Smash book.There are also some photos of my pages. As you can see it is random scrapbookking! No rules, just pure fun! I am not sure why this is so much fun but, it really is! I have seen lots of different kinds of blank books being used. Something as simple as a wire bound notebook to a fancy book made just for smashing. I will show you some of my other Smash books later this week. Have you been Smashing anything? I highly recommend it!

DIY T-Shirt Necklace with charm

I finally made a T-Shirt necklace! I have been seeing these at school and on Pinterest all spring and wanted to make one for myself. I finally got out the scissors and cut up an old t-shirt. I love the idea of recycling something that no longer fits or is not in style. This shirt fits both these categories. 

When I first "finshed" my necklace all the seams were showing and I hated how it looked. I decided to wrap the seams with one of the strips I cut for the necklace. Much better! 

Now, I am not the kind of person who just follows directions when it comes to making things. I added a charm that I picked up at Hobby Lobby last week. I have a thing for clocks. I couldn't resist this one. It was on sale half price. I paid about $3.00 for it. 

I plan to wear this with a tank top to dress it up a bit. I will also wear it to school in the fall. I try to look fashionable despite my advanced age! 

If you want to make one of these necklaces and need more instructions feel free to email me at bobetteglassett@gmail.com. If you have made one I would love to see it!