DIY jewelry cabinet storage

Like any woman I love jewelry accessories. One good piece can bring any boring outfit to a fashion statement. But here's the problem: how do you store all your pieces so they don't get tangled and damaged? Or worse, you don't see them because they are all covered in boxes or drawers?

After looking for options, some of them really expensive, I decided to create my own using wood, plywood, push pins, acrylic paint and foam core.

I wanted my cabinet to fit in an empty wall on my closet, so my first step was to take measurements.Then I went to Lowe's and had all my pieces cut. I purchased inexpensive 2 x 2 wood pieces for the sides and thin plywood for the inside. The total cost of the project was about $15.00.

At home I just put all my pieces together using nails and wood glue. Everything was painted black with just regular acrylic paint. After that I used my drill to attach the cabinet to the wall.

I used a piece of black foam core fitting the inside. I did this to make my cabinet repositionable using push pins.

 I can rearrange all the pieces by just moving the push pins.

 Now I have all my pieces displayed and it so easy to pick one because I can see everything I have to coordinate with my outfit.

And  I especially love that my bracelets have a home now.

Thanks for reading and your kind comments!

My DIY smash book

I have been wanting one of those smash books that everybody is crazy about now, but found them to be a little girly for me, so I decided to make my own version using a binder method in which I can change the pages as I go along.

   

After creating my binder (see my previous post) I continued with the fun part: the inside pages,

I did not use a paper collection in particular but an assortment of my favorite papers, those that I have been hoarding and didn't muster the courage to use before.

I divided my book in sections: inspirational, creativity, bliss, beauty, fashion, travel and home with dividers that I made using file folders and paper.

In the inspirational section I used different journaling tags with my favorite  quotes.

Creativity is an important part for me. I intend to put here pictures of my completed projects.

The bliss section is about all the things that I love.

This section is for all things beauty.

Fashion section of my book.

The travel section.

And finally my home section.

Now my pages are ready for all my ideas, thoughts, pictures or collages.  That's what smash books are about: a place to freely express yourself. At the end the to be continued sign tell me there's always more to come.

Thanks for reading!

DIY Fabric covered Binder

I have started a project life/smash book and I love it. For us as scrapbookers is very interesting and liberating just to be able to journal and create pages about ourselves and our daily lives.

There is quite an assortment of products available for this new craze, but I had to make mine on a budget and I do own a lot of supplies that can be easily transformed into this new trend. My first step was to get a binder and whew! those are expensive, so using my creativity I made my own.

I got a binder from the clearance section at Target for $1.18. It had a children's design, but the exact size I was looking for.

 

Using Mod Podge, fabric and ribbon the transformation began.

This beautiful print fabric is from Joanns stores, it is usually $12.99 a yard, but I only bought 1/2 yard and used a 50% off coupon for a total of $3.24 (that day they had an extra 15% to your purchase, so it went down to a fabulous $2.76).

Fabric is very easy to attach with Mod Podge using just a thin layer.

Cut the corners to make it easy to fold and attach them.

For the inside a coat of acrylic paint to cover the inseam.

I used two pieces of leftover fabric from another project for the inside of the binder in black and white polka dots.

As a finishing touch I used black satin ribbon in the inside edges.

On the cover I used my initial to add a personal touch. I used my Cricut and silver metallic paper to make it, but you can create yours with a pretty sticker.

Here is the finished product.  I will make a future post with my inside pages.

Thanks for reading and your comments!

New Stamp Storage System

As scrapbookers we are always looking for new ways to organize our stash. This weekend I tackled my stamp collection. I have been storing my stamps in a three ring binder with inserts, but as the amount of stamps grew it was becoming a disorganized mess.

Looking for new ideas online found a few solutions. This one to me was the one that seem more efficient: a filing type system.

For materials I used:

1. One package of heavyweight sheet protectors (5.5" x 8.5") that I purchased in OfficeMax, they have 25 sheets and it cost $3.99. Of course I used a coupon for 20% off that came in the newspaper this weekend.

2. Cardstock in black and white to match my decor. One good alternative were poster boards from the Dollar Tree they cost $1 for two and you get about ten dividers.

First cut your poster board in sections of 8.5" x 5.5" minus one inch to leave space on top and sides.The sheets have punched sides to be attached to a binder, I cut those with scissors, and then inserted my stamps, one on each side.

I'm gonna try to keep all my stamps labeled with the same packaging they came to make it easy to identify them. 

With the black poster board I made tabbed dividers for different categories. Labeling them with my computer.

My stamps are going to be stored in a embellished crate from the dollar store (See how to create this inexpensive crates).When my collection grows I would only have to get a second box to divide them.

Thank you for reading and your comments.

Distress Ink storage tower

I love the distress inks from Tim Holtz, they are my favorite for scrapbooking and even though I do not own that many like other scrapbookers, I have been looking for a way to display and store them.

I used different ways before: a wire basket, a photo box, in a drawer but none of them were either pretty or functional until I found this little cassette tower holder in Goodwill. It cost me $2.68 and it was in great shape.

A little coat of white paint to match my desk organizers.

And here is the finished product.

I labeled all the distress inks for easy identification.

 I can actually store two inks in one level, that will give me plenty of room for growing my collection. Awesome!

Thanks for reading and your comments.

Art inspired mini album

This mini scrapbook album was a gift for my daughter's birthday,who loves art, especially painting and photography. The construction was simple because she is not a scrapbooker, but loved the end result.

For the cover I used a 6x6 chipboard album from Michael's and covered with burlap fabric using mod podge.  

I was first inspired to create the mini when I found this metal camera trinket in Michael's.

I used an assortment of flowers from Petaloo, metal trinkets from Tim Holtz and metal corner accents from Michael's.

The inside pages is all about art. I took pictures of the items she uses for her paintings and used a collection of rub-on stickers that are all art related.

Everyday items like her brushes are displayed.

 I printed art related phrases with my computer and used them as accents.

 A sticker collection from Cosmo Cricket  was used, it has all art related sayings. It match perfectly with the theme of the mini.

I tried to resemble like an art gallery with art hanging from the walls. I'm not an artist, so I used my watercolor paints and stamps to create "masterpieces"

 This is one of m favorite pictures with the colors of the paint in great detail.

 For the back cover I used the same elements as the cover. Here you can see on more detail the burlap as background. For the binding I used my bind it all, but used a piece of gold cardboard that I scored at 1/2 inch, then embellished it with a Martha Stewart punch to give the cover a more finished look.

 A more detailed video of this project is on my you tube channel.

Thank you for reading and commenting!