How refreshing -- necklaces where I can actually find them...

While I was making my earring organizer, I knew I had to do something about my necklaces, too. I have a ton of really long ones, and several with fine little chains or chunky medalions that things get stuck on. And I never wore any of them because they were a giant mess...

Here was my temporary solution, hanging on a few nails beside my earring hanger (which I absolutely adore -- makes picking out jewelry so easy). Still a big mess...

So I signed the hubby up to help me, and we made a very easy -- and inexpensive -- hanger. I used some wood he had leftover. We ended up using a piece 16 inches long and 2.75 inches wide. I had him add some nice edge trimming...

Ahhhh, such a great guy for helping me with all my crazy projects!

We sanded it up and then he drilled holes for my hooks. We left 3 inches on both sides, then added holes for six hooks, 2 inches apart. Here's the only thing I had to buy for this project (got them at Home Depot and they work fabulously):

After my hubby pre-drilled the holes for my hooks, I sanded the whole plaque and painted it with the same color as I did the earring holder (haha, or so I thought; I noticed it's a little darker shade of brown... Oh well). I also sealed it with some polyurethane. I tried out the spray kind and it was great -- much easier to get a smooth finish.

I had my husband use his router to make me some keyhole holes in the back for hanging, and I used two nails to hang this. If that's not an option for you, you can easily find hanging hardware anywhere; I suggest using two instead of one for something as long as this (plus it gets kinda heavy with all the necklaces on there).

The hooks are long enough that I had room to double up my longer necklaces (which keeps them out of reach of the baby fingers) as well as kind of separate the necklaces on the hooks.

See? I have a lot. I may still not wear these frequently, mostly because of grabby baby fingers, but it's so much easier on the eyes and my peace of mind knowing if I do want to wear one, it will be a snap picking it out and putting it on. I won't have to untangle everything to find what I want... Love it!

Plus I needed a special place to hang a pretty amazing gift I got for Christmas. Thanks, Erin! Here's the pictures we forgot to take before I left. :)

Add a little rock'n'roll to your wardrobe...

I have been on a jewelry kick lately -- I love jewelry, so why not learn to make my own? I've made a necklace and some earrings so far, and I'm definitely hooked! So much fun...

But I have to say what I've been dying for most is a punky, rock'n'roll leather cuff, and I'm so excited with the results! (Just don't look too close, it's definitely not perfect, but it was my first time working with leather...)

Yeah, I know. Not the most edgy looking with my wedding ring, but I had to wear it on that arm so I could take a picture. :) But still, I think it looks pretty awesome for my first attempt!

This was actually a pretty simple project; I did it in one afternoon. First, pick up some materials at the craft store. I saw leather and embellishments at both Hobby Lobby and Michael's. I bought a piece of leather ($3) and some embelishments ($3 to $7). Both rivets and these pyramid brads looked so much fun!

Now, this isn't the cheapest project, because you'll need more than just the materials. I also bought some snaps (and fyi, both the snaps and the rivets come with what you need to set them, you just need a hammer -- $7.50 but used a coupon), a leather hole punch (which was about $8 but I used a 40-percent coupon), and a needle/leather awl ($2). I used the awl for the pyramid cabuchons, but you will only need the leather punch for the rivets. You can make at least three or four cuffs from the leather, and you'll have leftover rivets, cabuchons and snaps. So this will be more cost effective if you make several -- hey, it's a good time to get started on Christmas presents!

So to start, you need to take some measurements and do some designing. I did a Google search and looked at leather cuffs, then designed my own with inspiration from what I found. I decided I wanted three horizontal strips and I wanted to use the pyramid cabuchons and alternate them. So plan what you want it to look like, then determine your width based on that. I decided to have each strip be 3/4 inch, so my width was 2 1/4 inches.

Measure your wrist (my wrist was 6 inches around), then add 2 inches so you'll have enough to wrap around. And believe me -- you'll need 2 inches (I tried only 1 inch and it wasn't enough). Your arm is a little bigger further up, so you need enough for the widest part of your arm, and you'll want a decent amount for placing your snaps. So my length was 8 inches. Using a rotary cutter and a straight-edge ruler, cut out your cuff (2 1/4 inches by 8 inches for mine).

Then mark any specific design elements you need to cut using a pen. I tried a pencil and it totally didn't work. You can do it on the back so you won't see it anyway, so go ahead and use the pen. I measured where to make my cuts so I could have three horizontal strips at 3/4-inch each.

See what the pencil did for me? Nothin'! My strips ended up crooked because I couldn't really see them. I just used my nice sharp scissors to make the strips. I also rounded the corners using my scissors.

Now you'll need to plan out where to put your embellishments. If you're making a hole to put the embellishment in, you can put your pen marks on the front because they'll be cut out, but if you're doing something more like these brads, I suggest you lay them out and mark it on the back.

If you're doing rivets, grab your punch and go to town. For these brad cabuchons, I used this awl. I didn't like the way the punch looked; even the smallest hole was too much of a circle for these and then it looked lumpy when I put it in. Now be so careful! This awl was super sharp! I pushed it into the leather where I wanted it and really wiggled it around to get it in. Then I flipped everything over so the base of the awl was on my matt and the leather on the top of the awl and -- carefully -- pushed the awl up through.

As you can see, this method kind of stretched my leather out. It looks all lumpy laid out, but it won't matter much when you've got it around your wrist. So get your embellishments all in place...

... then wrap it around your wrist to mark the spots for your snaps. Again, use a pen, and you'll use the leather punch here, so the pen marks will get punched out.

I just eyeballed how much I wanted it to overlap and how good it looked on my arm so I had plenty of leather to support them. Make sure to mark the holes for both ends.

I used my hole punch, making sure to get the punch that was the same size as my snaps so it had a nice, snug hole.

Then I simply followed the directions to put the snaps in, using the little setter and anvil and just a hammer I had around the house. So here's your fasteners -- and that's it!

A nice leather cuff full of attitude! Sweeeeeeeet...

Something for your bling with a twist...

As promised, here's a little fancier version of a jewelry organizer, this one more all-in-one.

This was my friend Keri's idea, and it's brilliant! I made this as a birthday present for my sister-in-law.

You'll need these items:
*a shadowbox frame (a frame with kind of a door on it, deep enough to put things inside -- a wood one)
*fabric
*hot glue gun
*staple gun (optional)
*fiberglass screen
*pushpins

(Sorry, I know I'm using the same pics again, but you don't mind, do you?)

I bought my shadowbox at Hobby Lobby -- even half off it wasn't as cheap as I had hoped, but it really worked well for the project. It also had hardware to sit on a dresser instead of hanging on the wall, just fyi. I bought the screen at Home Depot behind the windows department along the back wall. And I bought these awesome wood pushpins at The Container Store, and then they were too big for my project. :( So I ended up buying some rounded-head pins at Target.

Again, this method is really easy -- you could have this done in an afternoon! First, ditch the glass or plastic. You won't need it.

Next, take out the back/inside of the frame. Mine had a styrofoam pad attached to the back, and I tried to cover it wth fabric without taking it apart. That totally didn't work, so don't be afraid to take it apart! If your shadowbox doesn't have some kind of pad, then I suggest you get one or it won't hold your necklaces and/or bracelets.

I cut my fabric a little generously so I would have plenty to work with (so maybe an inch, inch and a half beyond the edges of my back and foam pad).

Warm up your glue gun and you'll attach the fabric to the foam, and then glue it to your backing.

My pad was glued to the back, and then there were screws through the backing and foam to the frame. When I glued my fabric down, and then glued the foam onto the backing, I tried not to put glue over where the screws needed to go.

Now you'll cut your screen just a bit bigger than the front of the frame and you'll staple it or glue it in place, basically replacing the glass or plastic with the screen.

Now, it was a little funky doing this part because these hinges didn't allow the frame to lay flat open. I just propped the back up so the front part could lay flat while I stapled it in place. I started with one side, got it stapled down, the really stretched the screen as I stapled the opposite side, then continued to pull as I did the two short sides. I didn't get it to lay perfectly flat and taut, but that's ok. It will still look great if you can't get it as tight as you want.

Finally, trim the excess screen and put your back piece back into its place. Then put some pushpins where you want in the fabric-covered foam and hang your necklaces or bracelets on them. Close the front and put your earrings through the screen holes and enjoy!

A little something for your bling...

Not sure why, but I feel like I need something nice and beautiful to put my nice and beautiful things in. I'm pretty sure my husband thinks I'm crazy. I have a wood jewelry box that I really like, but it's gotten a little cramped -- and a lot disorganized -- with earrings and necklaces and bracelets all over each other. I had to untangle everything each time I wanted to wear some jewelry. That, and for some reason, it's starting to tarnish my jewelry...

So I found an easy solution that is not only cute but makes it so much easier to pick out what I want to wear. Love it!

There are so many tutorials for this kind of stuff online, but here's two ways that I found. One is just for earrings (cheaper version), the other is for earrings and necklaces.

Let's start with version one: It's definitely the cheaper route to go, and you can hang it on your wall. And while you can't put your necklaces with it, I found a super cheap solution for that (stay tuned for that tutorial!).

Version two was just so clever, I had to try it! Plus maybe you can swing it to do it for cheap...

We'll start with the basic version today.

Here's what you'll need:
*a frame, of any size you want
*fabric
*hot glue gun
*staple gun (optional)
*fiberglass screen
(Sorry, you don't need pushpins for this version, that's for version two, so ignore that in the picture...)

So I picked up my frame from the thrift store, a nice big 11 x 14, for less than a dollar. I used some fabric I already had on hand, and I bought the fiberglass screen at Home Depot (it was against the back wall behind the windows department) for a few bucks. And there's a ton, so split it with some friends, make a whole bunch for Christmas gifts, something...

First off, ditch the glass in your frame (you can save it as replacement glass or donate it). Then I painted my frame because I wasn't crazy about the color.

I didn't even sand it, just used some acrylic paint in my favorite color, Burnt Umber. Then covered it with a spray sealant.

Next, cut out your screen a little bigger than your frame. Then using the staple gun (or hot glue gun if you don't have that), you'll tack it down as far forward as you can from the backside of the frame (you're basically replacing the glass with the screen).

Make sure you pull it really tight as you do it. I started with one side, stapled it down, and then I pulled it tight as I did the other side and continued to pull tight and tacked it down well everywhere.

Then trim the screen, leaving just a little past where you stapled or glued it down.

Then trim your material a little bigger than the frame. Use your staple gun/hot glue gun to attach the fabric to the very outside/top of the frame from the back side (so there's a little space between the screen and the fabric). Again, make sure you're pulling it tight. You will also need to make sure you can trim the fabric around the hanging bracket so you can still hang it.

And that's it! How easy is that! Of course, this is only good for wire earrings, not for posts. That's mostly what I have, though, so it's been awesome!

I move the little plastic backs up right next to the loop in the wire earring hook and then you just slide the wire through one of the holes in the screen. Now your earrings are easily found, out calling for you to wear them.

Now I just need to get my necklace hanger done so my necklaces won't be all over each other...

A little boost in the accessory department...

I adore jewelry, especially big, fun earrings. Except I'm the mom of a 10-month-old with some seriously grabby hands, so if I don't want my accessories ripped to pieces, I've been avoiding the earrings and necklaces in my jewelry box. What's a girl to do? I've turned my attention to bracelets, which tend to be less fragile and more easily removed from baby's reach. Also, very entertaining to the 4-year-old when we need to sit still for a while.

I lean more toward chunky pieces instead of delicate (because they're bolder, and again because of the indestructable factor). And I've been wanting a nice brown one, but couldn't find what I was looking for. So here's my solution...

I got a couple of packets of beads at the craft store (half off, yeah baby!), and I really like to use that stretchy, clear stuff that looks like fishing line. Total cost: $4. Nice...

And I had this little baby done in the time it took us to watch the last half of "Kung Fu Panda," which we do almost every day because it's the little man's favorite.

I measured the string around my wrist and left a generous amount. I knotted one end, then I started stringing beads. I used the three colors in order, but I think it would have looked awesome to put them on randomly, too. Once it reached the size I wanted, I tied the two ends of the string together (just basic knot, three times). I repeated that seven times so I had seven individual bracelets. Then I just repeated the process -- beaded a string, etc., and wrapped it around all seven bracelets twice. Then I knotted it off and it holds it all together.

This is a chance to really play with some color; I think this would look even better to do one color for the tie-together piece so it had more contrast with my varigated bracelets. It would also be cool to do some bracelets varigated and some solid colors. Well, if I get sick of it the way I did it, I can just snip the strings are re-use the beads.

Some fun summer bling. Woot woot!