Jewelry on Display

Okay guys, so I OBVIOUSLY haven't fulfilled my New Year's Resolution of taking pictures...Please just pretend that these are fabulous pictures, k?  Thanks! 

This is my hanging jewelry box before I cleaned it out and got rid of some jewelry that I almost never wore.  I was looking at it when I cleaned it out and thought, I should totally show everyone how to make one of these...They're SO easy!  Pottery Barn used to make a glass front jewelry display just like this.  It was about $100!  Too pricey for me...

My friend Kathryn told me she was going to make one with a shadow box and I thought it was a great idea, so we did it together.  This was a few years ago now, so I don't have a tutorial per se, but it's super easy. 

Start with a front loading (This is the MOST important part!) shadow box.  We got ours at Hobby Lobby (like pictured above).  They come in 2 or three colors, I think.  I know for sure they have black and white, but I think they also have a more natural wood finish.  This is the 16" x 20" size, which is regularly priced $49.99.  We got them when they were 40% off.  Gotta love Hobby Lobby!  At the time, I wanted mine to go in our bedroom which was very nautical, so I bought fabric to go with that.  You could just as easily leave it the oatmeal like colored fabric that comes in it - or choose a fabric to match your room.  Get a piece of fabric at least 18" x 22" or so, as you want some overhang to keep it from coming out.

You'll use a screwdriver to remove all the backing screws.  Once you do this, the backing piece comes out pretty easily.  You can then cover the backing piece with your fabric.  We used two pieces of coordinating trim to hang earrings from.  If you're using a backing fabric, put it down first.  Then, put your coordinating trim pieces down on top of that.  I taped both of these taut to the back of the black backing piece.  Then, you put all of these layers back into the shadow box frame.  While holding them into the frame, check the front for wrinkles and positioning.  When it looks good to you, replace the screws. 

You can use glass headed pins to hang necklaces from and hang earrings with the hook style post on the coordinating trim pieces.  The bottom ledge can accomodate earrings and watches that won't hang somewhere else.

Then, since it's front loading, you can open it while it's hanging on the wall and pick out your accessories for the day!  I moved mine to the basement stairway which is right by my coat and the door to the garage.  This makes it super easy to pick some accessories on my way out!  Plus, since I like to be super casual at home, it makes it easy to return them to their proper place...meaning my husband doesn't get mad at me for having jewelry all over the house.  Now, if only I can figure out a system for everything else I leave all over the house.  Well, another day, right?

Please let me know if you need further instruction or more detailed how-to's on this one.  It's a VERY quick and easy project!  If you wanted to glam it up a bit, you could even monogram your initials into the glass :)  Pretty!

-Heather

PS- Sorry for the picture weirdness.  I tried editing them in Picnik and got a few different effects.  I really will work on picture improvement sometime soon!

I'm linking up at Frugalicious Friday's where there's already over 100 cool projects!  Check it out :)