Cure for the Winter Blues: Organize the Jewelry

I have a great jewelry vanity. I say vanity rather than armoire, because this thing is huge. Here it is:


See. It's quite big. I am a jewelry addict. I have a lot of everything from rings to necklaces to earrings. Everything has just been kinda shoved in my vanity until now. I've sorted through everything and organized all the drawers. One problem is that there is not enough storage for all my necklaces. To rectify that problem, I made this great necklace holder awhile back.


It's just an old wood frame repainted. The middle is a chunk of plywood cut to fit in the frame with three cabinet knobs screwed into it. Perfect! (Except I think I need another one!)

Another problem is that the drawers in the vanity are slick on the inside and the jewelry all slides around when I open and shut them. So, I decided to line them with fabric I have laying around. But what fabric would work best to keep stuff from sliding? That's when I remembered I had an array of various colored felt laying around. Here's one drawer before I lined it:

And here it is after:

Much Better! I tested it out and no more sliding jewelry to get tangled together when I open or shut a drawer. Here's the whole thing organized and lined:

It's amazing how completing these small projects can make you feel like you just scaled a mountain top! Well, maybe not to the top of a mountain, but at least the top of the laundry pile! :)

Happy Crafting!

Cure for the Winter Blues

I am suffering from the winter blues. For the last two weeks here in the Minnesota tundra, it's been below zero. I am currently unemployed and trying to start my own business with little or no capital, one of our vehicles is not working properly.....the list goes on and on. In order to get out of this funk I decided I need a cure. "I've got a fever....and the only cure is more cowbell!" Okay, maybe not more cowbell. I think I need to reorganize my house and my life. I need to get over the blues by doing, and of course, by crafting! And I'm sharing everything right here. So later today, look for the first of an entire week of posts with cures for the winter blues.

Organizational Rack (formerly known as spice rack)

I've been trying (slowly) to motivate myself to get cracking on one of my resolutions to organize more (or better). I completed a small project the other day that I think will help in that quest. I found this spice rack at the thrift store for $2.

It didn't have the containers in it anymore. Fortunately, I've been storing up prescription bottles from my pre-natal vitamins. They seem to fit in there nicely. The goal is to store all the various craft supply bits and bobs that are small but I don't know where to put them.

I painted the whole rack with turquoise acrylic paint. Then I distressed it with sandpaper. Then I coated the whole thing with burnt sienna acrylic paint and wiped it off while it was still wet. Here's the results:

I like it! My next task was to gather up some crafting supplies and put it in the bottles. I wasn't sure at first how well I could see what was in the bottles. So my next idea was to put a bit of whatever was in the bottle on the front of the cap so I knew what was in there. Here's one side done:

This side has various random embellishments in it. The other side has my glass glitter:

(You can't really tell, but the first bottle is white glitter.) Well, that's all the farther I've gotten. I ran out of bottles for now. But each month, a new one will be added. If I find any other containers that work, I'll be set! What do you think? Have you come up with a clever idea for storage and/or organization? Please share!

Happy Crafting!

Storage and Organizing Tips

To get a start on my (and many others) New Year's Resolutions to organize, today I thought I'd share a few storage and organizing solutions both from the internet and my own home.

The first one comes from Real Simple Magazine. They used an empty tissue box to store plastic bags.

I love this idea! I've always been meaning to make one of those hanging sleeves out of scrap fabric and elastic, but this would take up way less space and recycle twice as much!

How about using a chunk of old ladder as a pot rack as shown on Better Homes and Gardens?

Then there's this great mail sorter I found on Bright and Blithe.

And bonus? She made a tutorial so you can make one too!

Here's one from my own house. I don't have anywhere decent to hang pot holders in my kitchen. So, I used a magnetic curtain rod (for steel doors) and stuck it on my fridge. Then I used curtain hangers with clips on them to clip the pot holders up.

I love the idea of using an old shutter as a message board from Better Homes and Gardens.

I have a couple of smaller shutters that I have plans to do something similar to this with.

My mom has been making old windows into cabinets for years now. Here's the one in my house (currently housing Hubby's sport memorabilia and my hinged box collection).

I hope some of these ideas inspired you to organize. This week, I have a list and one room a night to clean and organize. I'll let you know how that goes! ;) Do you have any great organizational ideas to share?

Happy Crafting!