DIY jewelry holders

Hey all! I've been working on this DIY project for a while, but just wrapped it up over the weekend, so now I can finally share it with you. :)

I had an old DIY earring holder I made back in college that just wasn't cutting it in the new house (picture purple felt...eeeek), so I decided to upgrade. I bought a bunch of $1 white 4x6 and 5x7 picture frames from Target and very carefully removed the glass. (One piece did actually break on me, so I recommend doing this while you're holding the frame inside a plastic shopping bag, so if it breaks, the pieces will be contained. Oh, and wear gloves!)

I bought a roll of plain ol' window screen from Home Depot for $6 with the intention of just putting it in the frame and hanging the earrings off of it. 

But of course, it still looked like window screen. I contemplated painting it, but then I remembered some leftover fabric I bought to make pillows for the bedroom (another work in progress -- more on those later, I promise!). I cut the fabric and the screen to fit the frame, and glued them together. Then, I glued them inside the frame.

The earrings slide easily through the fabric, and the screen in the back helps to guide them in. I tried just using the fabric, and found the earrings slid better when the screen was also there.

I made three earring holders -- one 4x6 frame and two 5x7 frames -- and used some brown ribbon I had to make pretty bows to hang them from.

For the necklace holder, I found an 8x10 frame at Target on clearance for $3 -- woohoo! Now, I'm warning you, I kind of made this up as I went along. I knew I needed something to hang the necklaces from, and I contemplated screwing eye hooks into the wood frame, but was too lazy to buy the hooks or attempt that.

Instead, I cut a piece of cardboard the size of the frame and grabbed some regular paper clips. I bent them into hooks, and then stuck them into the cardboard to test the layout and "pre-drill" the holes. I removed them before gluing fabric over the cardboard.

(Reject paperclips are in the background, as is my ever-present cutting mat. Love that thing!)

To dress up the paperclips, I wrapped them in ribbon and hot glued it.

And, with no further ado, the end results!

No, my walls are not pink. Damn weird winter light!

The earring holders are easily accessible off to the side, but don't distract from the fabulous mirror (a HomeGoods find).

I decided not to hang the necklace frame, but prop it on the edge of my bureau.

What do you think? I think I'd like to paint the frames since I'm not really digging the white -- it clashes with the cream in the fabric. I had planned to spray paint them anyways, but I'm waiting for warmer weather and the ability to work outside. I'm thinking brown to match the mirror, and then maybe swap out the brown ribbon for something with more color. What are your thoughts?

(I know my bureau is a bit of a mish-mash...it's a work in progress. I'm thinking of ditching that tall, outdated jewelry box since I don't need it as much anymore, and getting some cute bowls and seashells to store things in instead. But my awesome touch lamp is staying!)

Since I used leftover fabric and ribbon, the total cost for this project was $12! I'm linking up to the 20 Below Thursday party at Christina's Adventures...stop by to see what everyone else is creating for less than $20.

And if anyone needs some window screen, I've got plenty!

And, in other news... I'm going to a "finish like the pros" workshop tonight at the Mill Stores. It's a New England chain of stores that sells wood furniture, including lots of unfinished pieces, and it's where we bought our dining room table. I'm hoping I'll get some good tips I can share with you all later this weekend. 

And I know I teased you last Friday about a project I'd be working on over the weekend related to coat hooks. Well, the project shifted gears a little, and I didn't get as much done on it as I anticipated, but I do plan to tackle it this weekend and hope to have the final reveal ready for you in about a week. Stay tuned! I know the suspense will make it hard for you to sleep at night until then.... :)