Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Anyone who knows me knows that I am an earring fanatic. Ever since I had my ears pierced in when I was twelve, I've been obsessed. Especially with big dangly earrings! I LOVE them!!
The only problem with big dangly earrings is storing them...they get all tangled up in a regular jewelry box, they don't lie flat, you can't find the matching earring for the set...etc. (Well at least that what happens, to me!)
I've been searching for a way to organize them and hang them so they would be easy to get to and stay organized, but also something that I could have in an out-of-the-way place so that my curious (ie destructive) almost three-year-old can't get to it! I've seen table-top displays, racks, and other things, but none of them really met my specific needs.
Then a couple of weeks ago I saw the cutest little earring frame made from a repurposed frame with a burlap backing, and KNEW this was the way to go! (I feel like a complete schmuck, 'cause I can't remember whose blog I saw it on...I searched everywhere, but I don't know who made it! So if you know who are THANK YOU for the fantastic idea!!) This is what I came up with:
Cute, huh?
So....
Today I'm giving a quick how-to on how to make your own dangly earring display out of a cheap frame, burlap, twine, and ribbon! (The best part of this little project was that I didn't buy a single thing! I used things that I had had in my stash of stuff for years..I love that! Totally a Nike, from Choose to Thrive, thing to do! I'm rockin' what I got! Woot!)
Here's what I used:
A dollar store frame from a mirror that got broken
A piece of old burlap
black craft paint
a scrap of sandpaper
paint brush
twine
scissors
ribbon scrap
hot glue & hot glue gun
First I took the backing off of my frame.
Next I sanded the surface a little...Then covered it in a layer of paint. (I didn't want to paint it a completely solid color, so I went with craft paint instead of spray paint.) Then I wiped some of the paint off with a paper towel so it looked grungy.
Then I laid the frame backing on top of the burlap and roughly measured and cut the burlap. To attach it to the frame, I glued the burlap into the back of the frame...pulling it tight as I went.
I distressed the burlap a little with a dry brush (some of the black paint was still in the brush...not much...so I just lightly brushed the surface with that.)
To make the display hangable (is that a word?) I added a twine to the back with hot glue, and covered the ends with a small scrap of burlap to make it sturdier.
On the front I decided to make it pretty by adding some embellishments on a couple of the corners. I cut a narrow strip of burlap, folded it in half lengthwise and then (not so carefully) twisted and glued it, until it resembled a little rosette. (You can find a really good tutorial for shabby burlap rosettes over at Brown Paper Packages.)
Next I hot glued a couple pieces of twine to the corner, layered a ribbon bow on top, and then added my rosette.
And Voila! My finished earring display!!
And here it is holding all of my fishhook-style earrings!! I LOVE the way it turned out!! It's perfect for keeping everything organized...plus it looks so pretty that it doesn't feel utilitarian at all...it's almost like art!!!!
This was super simple to put together...I think it took me about 20 minutes total. No joke. Plus it was FREE! Can't beat that!!
Happy crafting!
