My latest craft project: Homemade Cork Jewelry Boards:
A few posts ago, I paired up with Chelsea to create some fun bracelets we found on Pinterest (if you haven't read that, it's here). Crafting some jewelry reminded me that I want to start wearing more of the jewelry I have. If you're like me, you have hodge-podge piles of handmade craft jewelry and costume jewelry from Goodwill and Target lying around all over the place. It collects in the bathroom, in my clothes drawers, and my vanity. I also have a small collection of "real" jewelry, all of which is meaningful - the necklace and earrings I wore at my wedding, trinkets brought home by my father from his international deployments, gifts over the years from Chris. But somehow I always end up wearing the same small pieces of jewelry that collect in a little cup in my bathroom. I know it's because I can't be bothered to go through this mess:
This is the top of Chris's dresser - otherwise known as my jewelry hoarding pile. No, it's not even my own dresser. Yes, that is an authentic aluminum Caboodle, straight from 7th grade, chock full of shiny trinkets that I've hidden away like a raccoon. If I want to wear a particular piece of jewelry, I have to sort through all of this, and then I often don't put it away properly Added peril comes from cats jumping onto this pile in the middle of the night, because they, like raccoons, like shiny things (and waking us up at 4am). Something had to be done.
So I decided to make a jewelry board, inspired by some projects I pinned. I traveled to Michael's to see what I could find, and wound up purchasing a set of 4 cork tiles, and rolls of burlap in 2 patterns, plus some sparkly push pins, and a box of jewelry display pins. The glue gun I already had.
I went with the burlap because a) that's what they had at Michael's, b) the lace-covered burlap reminded me of my wedding, and c) the text-printed burlap goes perfectly with the upholstery on the chair to my vanity <theme joy>
I think purchasing fat quarters, using scrap fabric, or buying a yard or 2 of fabric to cover your cork tiles may be a little easier, but just go with what you like!
I knew that the burlap roll wasn't wide enough to cover the tile, so I just cut 3 strips per tile:
I started at the top, and laid out the fabric how I wanted it (this didn't matter so much with the lace burlap, since it was a consistent pattern, but it did matter with the text-print burlap)
Then I hot-glued the strip to the front, and then hot-glued the excess to the back, making sure it was snug (don't mind my goldfish snack).
I knew I would need 3 strips to cover the tile, so I elected to do the top and bottom strips first...
And end with the middle strip. Make sure you're gluing the middle strip to the cork, and not just the other fabric, so everything remains snug.
I made 4 tiles, 2 in each pattern. This whole project took about 15 minutes!
I decided to hang the boards on a wall that needed a little sprucing! I love these 2 paintings by P. Buckley Moss - one of my mother's favorite artists - but they get swallowed by this giant empty wall, and I knew they'd be better somewhere else. And obviously, my old Ikea full-length mirror covered in plastic beads, a non-functional lamp, and wedding mementos, had to go (just the mirror, not the mementos!).
It took a few tries to figure out how to hang these puppies! I used some of those picture-hanging stickers, but quickly realized the cork tiles weren't sturdy enough to not warp with the weight of the jewelry unless each tile was secured at all 4 corners. I had to go back later and do this since I'd initially only put one sticker on the top-middle. You craft and you learn!
And then I used jewelry display pins to hang up all of the jewelry I want to wear more often.
And the best part is that, even when I'm not wearing it, my jewelry is now art on my wall!
The dresser still has some stuff on it... I'm hoping to line a little wooden tray with some soft fabric so I can have a place to put heavy bangles and boxes. Next craft project!
Crafting is all about making beautiful things useful, and useful things beautiful. What are your favorite ideas for storing and displaying your jewelry?
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