Unruly Jewelry

This week has been insanely busy. So busy that we have to keep farming out the dogs to doggie day camp, which they love. Every night, Gus is so tired that he can barely keep himself from falling off the couch.

Since we’ve been so busy, today’s posts are going to be a little different. This morning’s is all about how DIY projects can sometimes fail… and tonight’s post will be all about how I rectified the situation. I guess these posts can be considered a metaphor for life – sometimes things don’t go as planned, but you have to take those lemons and make them into lemonade! Or at least, that’s the situation with my earring storage.

My jewelry has always been out of control. As in, constantly talking back, breaking curfew, and just generally being a hot mess. I have to say that I at least TRIED to corral everything together by storing earrings in bowls, drawers, hanging them on ribbon… I even tried to use an old cheese grater, similar to this post that I found on Pinterest.

But no method was attractive and easy enough for me to maintain. Until I saw this beautiful metal sheet for sale for $10. And then I started brainstorming how it could hold my earrings.

I thought it would look amazing hung behind an ornate frame I’d taken off a mirror (to use for another project). I planned on spray painting the frame a fun color.

But unfortunately, the metal sheet was a tiny bit too narrow for the frame.

Luckily, I had a piece of plain white cardboard left over from one of my other frames. You know, the white piece you can put between your picture and the glass? It seemed like it would be perfect!

The metal was surprisingly easy to cut with plain old scissors. I trimmed it up and set it aside. In the meantime, I turned my attention to the frame.

I love working with washi tape, as illustrated by my pencil-beautification project. I’d purchased this beauty at Michael’s awhile back, and was so excited to use it, since it would coordinate perfectly with my green pencils without being too matchy-matchy.

See how pretty it is?

See how well the color matches the green pencils?

It took me about 10 minutes to tape up the frame. In order to get neat edges, I made sure to always leave tape overlapping the edges, and then I cut a bit off to create a smooth corner.

Eventually I was left with a totally professional looking frame.

I flipped it over and attached the metal sheet with clear packing tape. I used a generous amount so that it would lay flat. You don’t need to worry about the fact that the green washi tape looks messy on the back; it won’t show in the finished product.

I wanted to hang it on the wall, so I cut some 3M strips in half, and attached them. As I explained in this post, I like to cut them in half for light-weight frames in order to save money!

And then it was time for wall hanging!

At this point, I started to slightly panic. It’s too busy! It’s too flimsy-looking! But I thought maybe hanging some earrings would pull it all together.