Tutorial: Shabby Chic Dangly Earring Display

This fun little shabby chic earring stand, made from an altered picture frame, is a great way to hang and display all your beautiful, dangling earrings. I had the idea for this project after we talked about my love affair with dangly earrings and how to display them. I don’t know about you, but I just love seeing them all hanging in a row! :)

The next day I made this earring frame, and it was so quick, easy, and inexpensive to put together, I knew I had to share it with you! :) I spent a grand total of $5.34 on this project. Plus I got to work with a staple gun. (Thats about as close to a power tool as I get!) ;)

Cost: Less than $10
Time: 30 mins
Supplies: picture frame, 12′ of picture wire, acrylic paint & brush, staple gun (or nails/tacks, etc)

I started out with a black 8×10 picture frame from Walmart, $3. They also have 8.5×11 document frames which would be good too, for a little extra space. On the same aisle, I picked up some picture hanging wire. They sold them in packages of 6′ for $0.97 and I used two.

Since the frame wasn’t real wood, I was a little concerned with how it would turn out once I painted it. I definitely wanted it to have the antiqued look, where you could see the previous color underneath the white paint.  I was afraid the only way to do that would be to use a real wood frame, so the wood would soak up the paint and show the grain underneath. I thought this frame, since it was completely flat with no texture, would just produce a flat, solid color when I painted it…

But as you can see from the above images, this little inexpensive frame did great! :) I was very pleased with how it turned out.

I gave the frame a couple coats of paint with this almost-but-not-quite white acrylic paint using the brushes pictured. I used this type of brush because it’s what I had, but I really liked how it turned out because, well, honestly, it didn’t do a very good job! But in a good way! It would wipe away some of the paint as I was trying to paint more, giving it that faded, shabby look. I just painted the frame, I didn’t have to sand it, wipe it, or distress it in any way.

Next, I took a piece of wire and laid it across the back of the frame. I folded it over twice so that I had three strands folded together that were just a little longer than the width of the frame (this was to make the hanging wire a little thicker).

Twist the wires loosely so they hold together, but loose enough so you can stick a post earring through there if you want! :)

On the back of the frame I used a pencil to mark where to hang the wire. I started with 1/4″ from the top opening of the frame,  then spaced the remaining wire 2.25″ apart.

Here’s what the back looks like.

I stapled the wire to the frame, then folded and tucked the wire so it wouldn’t come out. If you don’t have a staple gun, you could also use small nails or tacks to wrap the wire around and hold in place.

I gave the knots a few taps with a hammer to make sure there weren’t any sharp wire edges sticking out.

And that’s IT! :) So quick and easy! It looks beautiful on a dresser or chest of drawers.

Let me know if you try it! :) Have fun and thanks for looking! :)

Filed Under: Crafts & Projects, House & Home, Tutorials • 113 Comments

Oh, for the love of Scarf. Make a T-shirt Scarf!

A few weeks ago (after I professed my undying affection for scarves) my lovely and creative blog pal Allie Brownie sent me this super fun link:

Make It and Love it: Knit Scarf

*gasp* … How FUN! An adorable, shabby scarf I could totally make! :) And what a cute site too, huh? I’ve already got several other projects bookmarked that I’m dying to try.

But I had to start with the scarf, of course.

I immediately hit the fabric stores (Hobby Lobby & Hancock are all we have around here) to try and find some cute knit fabric. Unfortunately, I came up with squat. I could not find even remotely cute colors- especially not that adorable green she used!

BUT, I had something else: I had just cleaned out my t-shirt drawer, (it was way overstuffed) and I boxed up a huge stack of old t-shirts that held absolutely no sentimental value anymore. Perfect for re-purposing! I still didn’t have that adorable green, so I went with what I had- lots of orange and blue! :) I had been wanting an Auburn scarf all season to wear to chilly fall football games, so that worked out just fine. And the orange strips of fabric totally look like Tiger stripes! Bonus!

Now, in the tutorial, she calls for one long piece of fabric, 80″ x 6.5″, but since I was using t-shirts and didn’t have one long, single piece, I had to improvise…

Luckily for me, the “destroyed” look is in.

Here’s what mine ended up looking like. I originally didn’t have that blue piece in the middle, but the scarf looked a little short when I tied it on, so I added it at the end, before I had sewn everything together.

Now… I have to admit. I don’t usually enjoy sewing projects. I mean, I can do it, I guess, a little, if it’s really easy …but sewing is not something I particularly enjoy doing in my free time. I don’t see cute stuff and automatically think “Ooh, I could totally make that!” You know? Let’s face it – sewing requires, at the least, patience and attention to detail. I usually end up getting frustrated – the pinning, the stitching, the trimming of all the tiny little threads, the *oof*… ironing…

But this scarf was something I could totally handle! And no ironing required. To be honest… I did have fun making it! Heck- I was giddy! I was flouncing around the house, showing it off to Kevin, and mentioned how it’d be sooooo cute to have the little Auburn AU symbol on the scarf- although that would probably be hard to do. He suggested paw prints. PERFECT! Thanks babe!

I did 4 paw prints total – 2 orange, one on each end of one side of the scarf, and 2 blue on the other- so I could switch colors with my mood – or show one of each!

(P.S. Here’s a rough outline of the pawprint I used, if ya want it! The image should be 4.5″ wide with a resolution of 300 pixels/inch and all you have to do is print it out on a regular 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper for the exact size I used.)

*Cute!*

Annnd I got to proudly show it off at an Auburn baseball game last night. It was so nice to have after the sun went down and the wind picked up. But more on the game later!

This re-purposing t-shirt thing has got me totally inspired. Next I’m going to try this one – sooo shabby and cute, huh? And guess what- it doesn’t require any sewing. No needles. No thread. Sweet!

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The best thing about this scarf? Besides being adorable, one-of-a-kind, and just for me….

It didn’t cost me a single penny.

I had the t-shirts, the thread, and the sewing machine, just ready to be used!

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What have you re-purposed lately?? :) Any fun projects you have bookmarked? Share with me – I’d love to see! :)

Filed Under: Crafts & Projects, Everything Else, Fashion • 53 Comments

A Photo Rag Quilt!

I had so much fun making my first rag quilt, I immediately had to start another one! And I had *just* the project in mind. Several years ago I was browsing through a craft store when I came across printable fabric. Yes, printable fabric you put in your printer and print digital pictures from your computer onto it. I thought, “Well! If anybody needs printable fabric, it’s gotta be me.” I’ve been hoarding this fabric since 2004, waiting for just the right project to come along. And I have to say, this photo rag quilt was *perfect*!!! :)

Filed Under: Crafts & Projects, House & Home, Photography • 28 Comments