DIY Earring Holder

Hi everyone! It's Suzanne, Rebecca's Momma, happy to be back with you on the blog.

One thing the Patterned Paper Dad and I really enjoy doing now that the weather is good is taking a drive to see what treasures we can find at local thrift stores and yard sales.  On a recent excursion, we went to a thrift store that looked like the owner might drive around and pick up all the boxes that get left out for free at the end of a yard sale.  It was a little overwhelming but amid the chaos,  I found an old sad framed picture and doily which had seen better days. 

I've been trying to come up with a way to display my earrings so that when I get dressed in the morning I can find a pair that match what I'm wearing. I have quite a few beautiful pairs of earrings that my talented sister made but I found I was not wearing them because I'd have to go dig in my jewelry box to find them. When I saw the frame and doily, I was reminded of something I’d seen in my niece Corinne’s bathroom (we are a crafty family!) and an idea started brewing.  Since I was able to purchase both for just a couple of dollars, I decided to give it a try.
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The first thing I did was remove the old, warped cardboard print from the frame by pulling out the staples that were holding it in place. I gave the frame a good scrub and let it dry thoroughly. I ran the doily through the washing machine but it was still stained and discolored. To try to bring it back to original whiteness, I soaked it in a bleach bath for about half an hour and then rinsed it thoroughly. That got rid of all the discoloration and I was ready to go.

​I started by giving the frame a coat of brown wax. That helped bring the finish back to life a bit and even out the color (Ignore the other items I’m waxing – you may see those on a future post!).

​After both the frame and the doily were dry, I used a staple gun to begin stretching the doily into the back of the frame. I started in the middle of each side and then continued to add staples, pulling the doily tight. 

​After going around the perimeter of the frame stapling in the doily, I used some small dowels and hot glue to secure the doily even tighter. 

​Now that the basic construction was done, it was time for decoration. The first thing I did was add a piece of ribbon around the inside of the frame. This added a bit of color and helped to hide the dowels on the back as well as the hot glue holding the towels in place. I then added some leaves and burlap flowers into two corners of the frame and a couple of upholstery tacks into the other two corners to finish them off neatly. 

​I added command hooks to the back of the frame and was ready to put my new earring holder up on the wall. 

​Because the command hooks allow the frame to sit away from the wall a bit, it's easy to pass the French wires of my earrings through the doily to hang them.  Now I'll be able to see them each morning and find a pair that match my outfit for the day.

I hope you enjoyed this little trash to treasure project and are inspired to look at old junk with fresh eyes.  See you next time!

P.S. from Rebecca: Today's photo on the homepage is from Pexels user Maria Tyutina
www.pexels.com/photo/small-flowers-on-a-white-and-blue-fabric-7498816/​

P.P.S from Rebecca: Don't forget to check out the Etsy shop to see if anything strikes your fancy!
www.etsy.com/shop/patternedpaperplate?ref=shop_sugg​