Hepburn and Houndstooth

There’s a whole site dedicated to crafts made only with supplies purchased at the dollar store (Dollar Store Crafts) and I’m always absolutely amazed at the things people come up with on such a tiny budget!  On a recent trip to Dollar Tree, I found this wooden curio shelf and immediately knew what I would do with it.

I have the one on top with a couple of larger compartments.  I really wish I had bought more of these, because now I can’t find any more.

I borrowed the perfect green from my mom (Plaid Apple Barrel 20587 Spring Green) and painted inside all the compartments and the sides.  I left the back unpainted since it won’t be seen.

It was cute enough, but to protect jewelry, I decided to hot glue in some felt…. in my signature print, of course (houndstooth felt from Hobby Lobby).

Gorgeous and perfect for organizing my etsy shop rings, since it ties in with my branding.  One thing I didn’t realize until I was done is that the houndstooth pattern is running in different directions!  It doesn’t really matter, since this is just going in my bedroom, but in the future, I would turn it all the same way and probably cut it straighter too!

Total project cost: $1.25, with felt left over!

Once upon a time, all of my jewelry was contained neatly in pretty little jewelry boxes.  Then, I became obsessed with costume jewelry.  Now I can not contain it in boxes without resulting in a huge tangle, much like this:

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In fact, in recent months I have all but stopped wearing jewelry, because I can never dig anything out of the mess.  After months of wanting to create a solution, I spotted my old bulletin board in my brother’s closet and decided to finally take action!

I recruited Dustin to remove the stubborn frame (yeah, he’s going to kill me for putting this in here).  Initially, I had planned to put the frame back on after completion, but it broke a little too much for my taste.  In the end, I liked it without the frame.

I then placed the bulletin board, cork-side down, onto the back of the fabric (pulled from my closet), cut with 4-5 inches around the sides (i didn’t measure it.  You won’t see the back.).

I took out the heavy-duty staple gun and went to work, stretching the fabric tight and stapling.  I flipped the board over to check progress, only to find that I was stapling completely through the board! Oops.

Dustin suggested I cut a new piece of fabric, concerned that the staple holes would show through.  I decided to go ahead with the chambray fabric I was already using.  However, I switched to my desk stapler from college.

I finished stapling the edges on the long sides of the board, then went to work on the corners.  I folded them as if wrapping a gift, rather than cutting the corners.  I really hate cutting, because I always mess something up!  I tried stapling the corners with my desk stapler, but the staples bent.  I got crafty and put used the staple gun at an angle so that the staples wouldn’t come through the front.  Perfect!

After finishing all four corners, I stapled along the short sides and flipped over to check my work.  It’s definitely not perfect, but I was absolutely satisfied!

I then laid out the screw-in hooks (scavenged from my mom’s house), then screwed them in.  They were the perfect size screw, going deep into the cork board without going all the way through.

These are literally the only pieces I could dig out of my jumble to demonstrate how it works.

I am not completely done.  I want to put something at the bottom for rings and smaller earrings.  I’m thinking I will attach some shallow boxes.  I will update when I find something!  I also have to figure out how to mount it.  It won’t last leaning on my nightstand.  So far, I spent $0 on this project, so it will be ok if I have to spend a couple of dollars on the rest.

Check out the simpler version of what I did on According to Lia.   I would have done this if I had a closet door to hang it on the inside of.  Since mine is going to be on full display, I decided to cover it and use nicer hooks.  This is just a temporary solution though, because once we get out of my dad’s house and into our own place, I plan to put up a pegboard similar to this.  (Would also love to have a bustform!)

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For now though, I’m content with my board and I think once I complete it, it will work for me for a long time!