Baubles, Organized

I've been looking for some way to organize my jewelry for awhile now. I knew if I organized it better I would wear different pieces more rather than wearing the same things every day, which is my default. Inspiration struck one day. I had a random, leftover piece of wood from an Ikea dresser I bought years ago (so old it doesn't look like they sell it anymore) and gold nails from a picture hanging kit (FIXA, also from Ikea). The wood piece has a white veneer on the front and back but the sides were unfinished so I knew I had to cover those up.

Enter my go-to: yarn. I have this mustard yellow yarn (the company calls the color gold but it's mustard yellow), Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. I figured it would be a good contrast to the white wood piece, would set the white wood apart from the white wall it would hang on, and I really like the mustard yellow color!

Materials Needed:

• Twine (used to hang the wood)
• Yarn
• Glue gun and glue sticks
• Nails
• Piece of wood

Here is a picture showing the sides of the wood that I needed to cover up:

First I measured across the wood and divided it up so I could place five nails evenly across the wood (this required dividing up the wood into six segments). I ended up staggering the nails on the wood front so my bracelets wouldn't overlap each other when hung up. Two important points regarding the nails: I picked nails with a large head and angled them down a bit so my jewelry would not slip off. Next I glued the yarn around the sides using the glue gun and finished the piece by nailing two smaller nails in the top of the wood. I then tied a piece of twine around those two nails so I could it to hang the whole thing up.

Here's the finished product, adorned:

And here's a bit of a close up of the side so you can see the angle of the nails better:

I've had this for about a year now and it works great! This is another project you could vary the style of greatly. Use a piece of antiqued wood for a more vintage feel. Paint the wood a color that fits in with your room decor. Use a different color yarn or twine. The options are endless!

Twine It Up

I have a thing with glass jars and bottles: I can’t throw any of them away. I scrape off the label, clean them, and put them aside for random projects like this one. I ended up using two jars I had laying around, one old spice jar and I honestly can’t remember what the second jar was, maybe a jelly or salsa?

Materials needed:

• Glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Twine
• Yarn (color(s) of your choice)

This is a pretty basic project, easily done in an hour in front of the TV. After the bottles have been de-labeled, cleaned, and dried simply put a dot of glue on the bottom and start winding the yarn around, going up the sides, until you decide you want to switch to twine. I kept adding glue for every row to ensure the yarn stayed in place and continued that pattern for the twine.

I ended up doing these two slightly differently. For the larger jar I started with the yarn on the bottom and for the spice jar I started on the sides. When they are displayed, I can’t really tell a difference so do what you’d like depending on the bottom of the jar you’re using and how well it will stand with or without yarn on the bottom.

I filled one of mine with a collection of shells I have from various beach trips. It is a nice reminder of vacations I’ve taken and people who are special to me. And, since I had all of these materials on-hand this project was free! If you had to purchase yarn, twine, and a glue gun I’d imagine this might run you $25 (depending on how fancy you get with the glue gun and yarn) and you would have the materials for future projects. 

The style of these can vary greatly depending on what yarn/twine you used. Mine ended up with a slightly nautical look (partially because I added seashells) but they blend right into the rest of our decor. What combinations would you choose? I've seen some great projects around with neon rope which I think would be fun on these.

Enjoy!

Wine Charm Favors

I needed to come up with a favor I could give out for a friend’s bachelorette party. The party was more glamour, less grunge, more wine, less shots. This led me to the idea of wine charms. I used the bride’s wedding colors as inspiration for the charms and purchased stones and other beads in her colors: cranberry, peach, silver, and ivory. And they happened to be 50% off at JoAnn's. Bonus! To wrap them around the wine glass I picked up some silver earring hoops.

I wanted each guest to have at least six charms since that’s the number wine glasses are typically sold in. I came up with the following combination:

Assembly could not have been easier, just string the bead onto the earring hoop.

To package the charms I picked up ivory organza bags at a local store during their going out of business sale. And to ensure they fit in with the rest of the shower material I made circle tags and put one on each bag.

Sante! Now off to get some cheese and crackers.

Record Wall Art

The RE: and I have been living in our apartment for over a year now. And for that entire time I’ve been staring at a blank wall over our Klippan loveseat. The walls here cream with 1.5 inch molding boxing out squares, which I love! But after a year even the molding isn’t easing the pain of a picture/decoration/frameless wall. Something needed to be done. And it needed to be done free. Or as close to free as possible. Can anyone else believe how expensive frames are?

Around the time I started brainstorming my wall problem I was reorganizing our closet and noticed these records RE: grabbed from the yard sale pile when we moved my grandmother out of her house. Perfect! They were graphic, good and classic artists, there were some we’ve gotten from concerts we attended ourselves, and there were enough of them that had colors that jived with our living space.  

I did a little research into various options to hang/display the records but in the end I decided on using nails with wide and flat heads. Nothing like a cheap, easy, and quick project! I measured the records and the square on the wall where they would hang. Did some math and marked their placement on the wall in pencil. I knew those marks wouldn’t be enough for me to nail from so I used blue painter’s tape to make it clear where each nail would go.

Here’s the end result! I love the new wall ‘art’ and never get bored staring at the fun graphic covers of some legendary artists. It cost almost nothing. We used the wide head nails in this Ikea nail set, I already owned the hammer, painters tape, and records. 

And here’s what I see when I come in the front door:

Adios empty wall!