i hung a large round plastic canvas from my bathroom mirror with a suction cup hook and that held all my earrings. my necklaces and bracelets hung on an unfinished mug rack, in a style that was not mine. (click any picture in this post to view a larger version)
just so sad. and to make it worse, i hung them up so that i would wear them more, but they were behind my door, so i never really saw them!
this post will teach you how to make a beautiful place to hang your jewelry and another to hang your earrings. here's a preview:
first: the jewelry display
i saw on a blog (i'm sorry i can't remember which! if you know, please comment and tell me!) an idea for gussying up an old bulletin board and using it as a beautiful way to hang your jewelry. and then i saw on another blog (again, i don't remember which!) a beautiful way to turn a frame and some screen to hang your earrings. i had all the supplies lying around, so i decided to go for it! both projects are very simple.
the supplies you'll need are:
- a bulletin board in decent shape
- enough fabric to cover the cork of your bulletin board twice (you'll double the fabric) with whatever seam allowance you're comfortable with. i am not the best seamer, so i like 1 inch on each side.
- a glue gun
- spray paint in a color that goes with your fabric
- t-pins (they are the ones that look like this and you should be able to get them at your local walmart or fabric or craft store.) you'll need enough t-pins to hang everything you want to hang.
i didn't take step by step pictures, so i hope my instructions make sense. if anything doesn't, please comment and ask!
step 1: mask off your cork for painting the frame of your board. make sure you use a very low tack painter's tape. mine was too high tack and ripped up some of my cork!
step 2: prime and paint the frame of your bulletin board. i painted the back and the front because sometimes depending on how you hang them, you see a bit of the back, and i'm very type A like that. i find my results are better if i prime both sides firsts, then paint. i prefer to prime and paint on the back and sides first, then after they are well dry, i flip it over and do the top. i do this just in case i screw something up on the back (since it won't be seen as much), and in case i screw up the sides, i can fix it when i prime/paint the top, and i don't get overspray on the top, which is the most visible part.
step 3: once everything is very dry and fully cured according to your spray paint's instructions, carefully remove your masking.
step 4: make sure that you've got hardware on the back of your frame to hang the board the way you want (vertically or horizontally). i removed my hardware before i painted, so i had to attach it at this point. plus i hated the old hardware so i changed it.
step 5: measure the inside of your bulletin board (the area inside the frame) and write the numbers down. if your bulletin board moves in the frame like mine does, measure how much extra board there is if you move the board all the way to one long side and to one short side. add these measurements to the ones you took already. and, i would recommend adding at least another 1/2 to your measurements so that you can tuck the ends of your fabric under the frame when you put it in place. it's a clean look. and don't forget your seam allowance. i'm not the greatest, so i add an inch on each side at least.
for example: inside bulletin board measures 17"x22". my board moves around and the movement adds another quarter inch, so now we are at 17.25"x22.25". because i'm a terrible seamer, i want to add another inch on each side for seam allowance, so that's 2" to each side, bringing us to 19.25"x24.25". and last i want to add another half inch so that i can tuck the edges of my fabric in on each side, bringing us finally to 19.75"x24.75". in this case, i might just round up to 20"x25", since that will give me a little more fabric to tuck and will be easier to measure and cut.
WARNING: i am not a sewer. there may be a much better way to complete steps 6-9, especially if you know how to sew. if you know a better way, go for it!
step 6: prepare your fabric. since we want two layers of fabric covering our board, you need to double the length number you ended up with at the end of step 5 (in our example that would be 25"x2=50"). now you'll need to cut your fabric out (in our case the dimensions would be 50"x20") according to your dimensions.
step 7: fold and pin your seams on all four edges of your fabric, then iron them in place. then fold the fabric in half right side to right side (wrong side out) and iron that seam.
step 8: hot glue all your seams (not the fold in half!) unless you love to sew and want to do it that way.
step 9: fold your fabric along your ironed half fold with the wrong sides touching, right side out. now hot glue all four sides, starting with the half fold, so that you end up with one piece of fabric.
step 10: dry place (no glue) your fabric on the board, practicing tucking the ends of your fabric under the frame of the board with a phillips (flat) head screwdriver or some other instrument that works. keep working with it until you've got it right and are comfortable with the technique.
step 11: lay down a bead of hot glue along the edge of on corner of your frame. i'd recommend starting with a bead 2-3". now quickly while the glue is still workable, start tucking your fabric under the frame. repeat on the other side of that corner. then repeat all the way around until you are done. if you mess up, don't freak. if the glue is still warm, you should be able to pull it up and go again. if it's not still warm, you still might be able to pull it up when it's completely cool. just be gentle.
now you are done! enjoy the beauty of your board, and start hanging jewelry using your t-pins stuck in the board.
i added a clip on flower to mine just for some extra punch. i just bent the head of a t-pin at a right angle and clipped on the flower.
here's what it looks like with some jewelry on it. it hold more than i thought it would!
depending on the bracelets or necklaces, you can hang more than one from a single t-pin. you can also hang rings from t-pins!
if you, like me, have some earrings that close with posts that clasp in the back (which you won't be able to hang on the next project), you can hang them too. i hooked both earrings together and then grouped them on t-pins by size.
and if you have post earrings (which you also won't be able to hang on the next project), you can hang them on the cards they came with, or make pretty cards from cardstock and punch small holes in them for the earrings and a big hole to hang it from the t-pin.
now, the earring display!
for this project you will need the following:
- a picture frame with it's back or a piece of hardboard, etc. to use as a back
- enough fabric to cover the board
- enough screen to span the full inside of the frame
- hot glue gun
- spray paint
step 1: prime then paint your frame if you like. you can also paint your screen to coordinate with your fabric at this point. if you like either or both of these the way they are, then don't bother!
step 2: measure the back of your frame and write the numbers down. then add your seam allowance. again, i used an inch on each side.
WARNING: as i said above, i am not a sewer. there may be a much better way to complete step 3, especially if you know how to sew. if you know a better way, go for it!
step 3: prepare your fabric. cut your fabric out according to your dimensions. fold and pin your seams on all four edges of your fabric, then iron them in place. hot glue all your seams unless you love to sew and want to do it that way.
step 4: dry place (no glue) your fabric on the board (place the right side down on your workspace, and lay your backing down on top of it), practicing until you've got it right and are comfortable with the placement.
step 5: lay down a bead of hot glue along the edge of on corner of the back of your frame. i'd recommend starting with a bead 2-3". then press the seam of your fabric in place. repeat on the other side of that corner. then repeat all the way around until you are done. you need to make sure that the fabric fits snugly, but it doesn't have to be super tight. if you mess up, don't freak. if the glue is still warm, you should be able to pull it up and go again. if it's not still warm, you still might be able to pull it up when it's completely cool. just be gentle.
don't freak if your fabric covers your hanger. just notch out the fabric and apply some fray stop or nail polish to the raw edges.
step 6: after the paint on your screen and frame is fully dry and cured, it's time to mount the screen in the frame. cut the frame to fit the inside of the frame (a tip to cut straight is to follow along a row of the screen's boxes). you are going to glue the screen to the inside lip that is for holding the glass in place.
the lip i'm referring to is that inside, lowered part of the frame. it's very important that you glue your screen here so that it is separated from your fabric. otherwise, you may not get enough room to get your earrings between the screen and the fabric to hang them.
be sure to dry place the screen until you are sure that it fits perfectly over that lip with enough room for you to glue it in place.
step 7: glue your screen in place. make sure it fits tightly inside your frame so that things don't get saggy.
step 8: place the back of your frame in place and secure it. (i used the regular pieces that normally secure the backing.
now flip your frame over and look at your lovely handywork. whoops. i didn't give my frame's paint enough time to cure and some of it has come off! crap. what am i going to do?
luckily, i have the miracle cure that covers a multitude of sins: buttons!
i just started hot gluing the buttons on the frame to cover up all the spots where my paint came up.
if you have a button that you want to use but it has a shank (loop on the bottom of the button), you can use heavy duty wire cutters to cut the shank off).
please, don't hot glue your finger like i did. when you put it straight out of the gun on your thumb, you get two blisters and cry like a baby.
after i burned myself, i started using pliers to hold the buttons and place them so i didn't get the glue next to me!
then i decided to glue buttons on the opposite corner too to balance things out. and then i was done!
i wanted to hang it in front of my bathroom mirror, so i used on of these picture hooks to hang it.
and here it is with my french hook earrings. i just love it! and it looks so good next to my jewelry display!
if you make or have made one or both of these, comment with a link or pictures so i can see the fabrics and color combinations you used!
I certainly need to make something like that to get my jewelry out of a drawer. Love what you made and thanks for the tutorial.
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