I'm BACK! That's right, we got a brand-spankin new fancy-pants iMac and there are a million wonderful things that I can do with it, but number one on my list is BLOGGING! I have about 8 million potential posts running around in my head right now, so what better way to start than with my very first tutorial EVER. More craft posts are on the forefront of everything that I have to post about. So do you wanna know how to make this super-cute jewelry holder frame?
Ok, I'll show you. First, you will need a frame, a small piece of fabric (less than 1yd), knobs-as many as you want probably 2-4, ribbon, tule, fine sand paper and your ever-handy hot glue gun. I bought the frames at a thrift store, I was looking for something with some accents around the wood - not just a smooth frame. Then, I bought a few knobs at home depot. I've been way into glass knobs lately, and if you want to get extravagant, then Anthropologie has an entire section of unique knobs for about $6 each. These ones were all under $3.
Ok, so the first step is to paint your frame. I used an antique white craft paint from Michael's. It doesn't have to be perfect, just covered. Let it dry, then paint on another coat just for fun. This is before the paint - ugly brown/gold...
While the paint dries on the frame, take the cardboard from the frame and measure out where you want your knobs to go. Maybe measure two times, because I might have accidentally put off-center holes in the first one that I made. Oops! Anyway, then you will want to put a hole through the cardboard (I used a screw driver, there is probably a better way, but this works for now).
Next, you will take the fabric and cut out a piece that is an inch or two larger than the cardboard from the frame. Once you have your fabric cut out, use hot glue to attach the fabric to the cardboard, I do it like I am wrapping a present - again, there is no perfect science to this. Once the fabric is glued on, "drill" a hole through the fabric over the holes in the cardboard.
Next, you will measure out the ribbon for earrings, just enough so that it covers the front and back of the cardboard.
Ok, now for the tricky part. Cut tule that is the same length as your ribbon, and slightly wider. The tule that I used was very wide, so I cut it in half and then to the length of the ribbon. Place the ribbon on top of the tule, then fold the tule over one side of the ribbon and put the hot glue on top of the tule. The tule is so thin that whether you put the glue on top of it or under it doesn't matter. While the glue it still hot, spread it out. I used another piece of cardboard and burned my fingers about 15 times in the process - be careful! Do this for both sides of the ribbon.
Then, place the ribbon where you want to on the cardboard - I like how it looks on the bottom, but my necklaces sometimes get in the way when they hang over the earrings. Hold the ribbon in place, flip the cardboard over and glue the ribbon to the back of the cardboard. Once you have glued the back of the cardboard, flip it back over to the front and place a very thin line of glue behind the top of the ribbon. If your earrings are like mine, they are heavy and will pull on the top of the ribbon if you don't do this (I unfortunately know that from experience).
Then, you will screw the knobs into the cardboard. Most likely, the screw will be longer than the thickness of the cardboard, thats ok, that is
what hot glue is for...Place the cardboard face-down and put a big blob of hot glue around the screw in the back. Let that sit for a minute, then do it again. It will stay there.
Let the glue dry on the cardboard while you sand your frame. I used a sandpaper sponge and it was SOOO easy to make those little frames look shabby - I just went along the edges and the details and it took maybe 5 minutes.
Once everything is dry, put the cardboard back
in the frame and use the clasps on the frame to keep it in place. You don't use the glass, throw it away (but make sure to tell your husband first that there is glass in the box you ask him to throw away so that he doesn't cut his hand on it. This I also know from experience...). Then comes the fun part, hang it up on the wall and put your jewelry on it and let everyone admire the beautiful jewelry holder that YOU created.
The frame that I used for the tutorial, I made for my mom for Mother's Day, but these two are the first ones that I made for myself. I did the larger one the exact same way, the smaller one I didn't use the knobs and just did the ribbon for smaller earrings. And, by the way, I found this idea from another blog that I can't find right now, there are about a million other similar tutorials out there, but I definitely was inspired by someone else and did not come up with this awesome idea all by myself.
I hope that helps and was easy to understand. I am working on taking better pictures for future tutorials. However, seeing as this was my very first tutorial, and if you have actually gotten all the way through it, please leave a comment and let me know if you liked it and if there is anything that I can do in the future to make things easier to understand. Oh, and if you haven't yet, pretty please follow me, you don't need a blog to follow one, just an e-mail address and you will automatically get e-mail notifications. Have fun crafting!!
