Tag Archives: organizing

Little Black Dress Jewelry Organizer

Little Black Dress Jewelry Organizer

I think these are so cute! This is a great way to organize your jewelry. Put one pair of earrings in each clear pocket and you’ll always be able to find exactly what you’re looking for! There are even larger pockets to put your bracelets. If you flip the dress over, you’ll find hook-and-loop tabs to hang bracelets or necklaces.

Make Your Own Jewelry Organizer

Make Your Own Jewelry Organizer

I love to wear jewelry. I have the cutest little jewelry organizer that I keep in my closet, but I really needed something by my bathroom sink where I take my jewelry off each night. I’m always afraid that something will fall down the drain or my earrings will rust if they get wet – I never said I wore expensive jewelry 🙂

I thought about buying a little shelf to keep by the sink, but then I saw one at a store and thought, “Hey! I can make that!” So, I did. The one in the store costs $25, mine was less than $10. And it’s so much cuter than anything store bought.

Here’s how I made my own jewelry organizer:
Materials:
*Drawer divider (mine came from Walmart and was made out of bamboo)
*12×12 piece of scrapbook paper
*Acrylic craft paint (only if you choose to paint it, you might just want to keep it the wood color)
*Mod Podge (You don’t have to use this. You can use any glue. I used Mod Podge because it works great as a glue and a sealer)
*Screw eyes (These are little screws with a loop at the end.)
*Picture hanger
*Nail, hammer, and a vice-grip
*Optional – trim, felt

Before

I painted my drawer organizer a soft yellow color. I had to give it two coats. It only took about an hour to dry so I was able to move on to the next step fairly quickly – the scrapbook paper. I simply measured each opening and cut the paper to that size. I then put a thin layer of Mod Podge in each compartment (working on just one at a time) and then put in the paper. You don’t want to use too much Mod Podge, or any glue, because it can make the paper bubble. Mine still bubbled a little bit but it’s not noticeable unless you know it’s there. I put in half the sheet of paper, smoothed it down, and then laid the rest in. That seemed to make it easier. After I put in each piece I put a thin layer of Mod Podge over all the paper to seal it and help insure it doesn’t get torn sometime in the future. I let mine dry over night.

Then it was time to use the little screw eyes. I bought mine at a home improvement store in the hardware section. I had never used these little guys before and had no idea how to put them in. I ended up using a nail, which I held with a vice grip, and hammered in just a little bit to make a small hole. Then I used the vice grips to hold on to the screw eyes and I just screwed it in. Very easy process. Just be careful, the end of each screw came through the underside of the wood a little bit. Make sure it doesn’t scratch whatever surface you’re working on, or even yourself when you pick it up.

The last step is to nail the picture hanger to the back of the jewelry organizer. Viola! You now have the cutest jewelry organizer to hang on your wall! Here is a picture of my finished product.

After

Oh, one more thing. I had some extra ribbon with adhesive on the back, and I used it to trim mine out a little bit. I also added a little strip of felt to the bottom shelf so my watch wouldn’t slip off easily or get scratched. Super easy, super cute, super cheap!

*Another great tip – you don’t have to leave this upright! You can turn it side ways or even upside down! You can also use the top of it as a shelf to keep perfumes or face creams or whatever else you can think of!

What ideas do you have for this jewelry organizer? What other things could you use it for?

Tension Rod Divider

Tension Rod Divider

I love tension rods. They are super cheap and there are so many things you can do with them. One of my favorite uses for a tension rod is to use them in a pantry or closet to store muffin pans and cookie sheets in an upright position. This can save you a lot of room versus lying them flat on the shelf.

Tension rod divider

To use tensions rods in this way, first measure the amount of vertical space you have between shelves. Tension rods come in different sizes and you want to make sure you don’t buy one that is too long. You can buy tension rods at just about any discount store and they are usually just a few dollars a piece. If you’re going to prop up one side of the pans against a wall you will only need two rods. If you’re going to put them in the middle of a shelf you’ll need to buy four (two for each side).

Simply attach the tension rod up and down at the front of the shelf and put the second one directly behind it towards the back of the shelf. If you’re putting this in the middle of your shelf do the same thing a few inches away. Now you can save space and store your thin pans upright!

Organizing a Hall Closet

Organizing a Hall Closet

I have this large closet in my hall way that I use to store all kinds of things – extra pots and pans, cleaning products, craft items, home school stuff (see the skull, it’s not real I promise)….pretty much anything I can’t find a home for. Yesterday when I opened it up to take something out I thought about how boring and bland it was. It’s so depressing to look in there! Plus things were starting to get out of hand in there – time to make a change!

Before

By nature I’m not an organized person, I have to really work at it. I’m a willy nilly, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of gal. I don’t like structure or schedules and I would rather be making messes than cleaning them up. I have learned over the last few years that the best way for me to stay organized is to also make things beautiful. If my closet is pretty, I will keep it clean and organized. This closet needed to be a little prettier…and cleaner.

All it really needed to spruce it up was a little paint. I had some left over paint from a bathroom I painted a few weeks ago. The great thing about painting a closet is it forces you to take everything out first. Once everything was out and the closet was painted I was able to look at the space I had and all the things that were originally in there. I discovered that a lot of it I really didn’t need any more. I filled three garbage bags full of stuff to take to Good Will.

Before I started painting the closet, I had five shelves in there. After getting rid of things I didn’t need any more I decided to only put three back up. This gave me space at the bottom to bring in two cabinets I had sitting in my garage. These cabinets not only made the closet look a little nicer but it gave me some drawer space to put my large kitchen utensils that I don’t use very often.

After

I like the way my closet looks now and it’s much more organized. I can very easily see exactly what’s in there.

Below are a few great tips to organize your closets:
*Use baskets to hold both large and small items
*Use two tension curtain rods and attach to shelf vertically, one in front of the other, up against the wall. Use this space to store muffin pans and other slender items upright (see picture).
*Paint the walls a fun color, just make sure the paint is completely dry before putting shelves and other items back in.
*Put seldom used items at the top of your closet and items you use more often towards the middle or bottom so they are easier to get to.
*Don’t put boxes or other paper items too close to the light on the top shelf. This could cause a fire.

Happy organizing!