Jewelry Box Disguised as a Painting

I’m not sure if y’all know this about me but here it goes: I’m not a jewelry girl. Most days I can be found wearing the earrings Brian proposed with (they only come out for cleaning) and the silver heart necklace he bought me just before we got married. My wedding ring should probably be resized (again) so I only wear it every once in awhile (like Heather Armstrong, I sometimes wear big fake wedding rings). And every now and then I’ll bust out a pair of hoop earrings (I have two holes in each ear) or a funky necklace. I just don’t have enough style to really wear jewelry. I’m working on it though!

My lack of style has meant that I have absolutely zero way of organizing the few necklaces and earrings that I do own. Most of the time I would shove them into a drawer or my purse or leave them on my nightstand. Leaving them on my nightstand meant that little kitty paws would snatch the shiny objects and they would disappear into the depths underneath the bed where Mango would play with them all night. So in the interest of trying to treat my necklaces better so that I can find them easier, I came up with a creative way to organize my jewelry while not spending a lot of cash! Organizing on the cheap? My two favourite things! (After Doritos and Glee, that is.)

My supplies:

1. Two 16×20 canvases that are about ³/₄” deep. I got mine at Michaels in a 2 pack on sale
2. Roll of white wrapping paper
3. Cork
4. Hinges
5. Small magnets, nothing fancy like Rare Earth magnets
6. Paint and paintbrushes (1″ foam and a tiny detailing paintbrush)
7. Glue (my photo shows superglue but I really used my hotglue gun)
8. Scissors
9. Exacto knife and cutting board
10. Stencil

Now the steps!

1. 

   Carefully cut out your stencil. If your stencil has sections where there’ll be painted parts inside of a hole, make sure to leave a bridge, so your stencil is all in one piece. You can fill in these lines later. Set stencil aside

2. 
   Wrap your canvases in the paper, giving them neat edges. NOTE: The reason I wrapped my canvases in paper is because they were damaged. I’d had them for years and they had two small tears in them that I couldn’t fix. If you can, I’d recommend painting the stencil right onto the canvas.
3. 
   Position your stencil onto the canvas and either tape the stencil to the canvas or use weighted objects (like I did) to hold it in place.
4. 
   Grab your paint and foam brush and start stenciling in. Use a light amount of paint and dab it on evenly. I used acrylic craft paint that I had kickin’ around.
5. 
   When you’re finished stenciling, peel back the stencil so you don’t smudge. You’ll notice that there are lines missing in my design. That’s where I had bridged the stencil so the middle pieces would be attached.
6. 
   Grab your fine/small paintbrush and start filling in the lines using short even strokes.
7. 
   If needed, cut your cork to size. I bought 4 packs of 6 squares of corks from Dollarama and they had curved edges. I used a ruler and eyeballed it so the curved edges were even and then sliced ‘em off! NOTE: I tucked my cork under the frame of the canvas, so I only cut the curves off the visible edges.
8. 
   Line up your cork pieces in one row so they’re as even as possible. Glue them down with hot glue. Do the same for the opposite row. Start filling in the rows in between by cutting the cork and gluing it down until the whole board is covered.
9. 
   Now grab your hinges. When I couldn’t find hinges at Dollarama, Brian reminded me that he’d bought a wood treasure chest from there and I could take the hinges from that. Problem solved!

   Put your canvases on the floor so the insides are facing up. Make sure you position the frames so the door opens in the right direction. IE: if you want the door to open from the left, the canvas with the cork should be on the left and the hinges will attach to the right side of the corked frame and the left side of the uncorked frame. And vice versa if you want the door to open from the right.

   

   
   Line up your hinges and poke pilot holes. I used a thumbtack since my hinge was super small. If you used a bigger hinge, you should probably use an awl. NOTE: a bigger hinge usually requires bigger screws. Make sure the screws aren’t too long for your canvas frames. Screw in your hinges.

10. 
    Attach your frame to the wall. Now there are a few different ways to do this. You could attach a picture hanging wire at the back and hang it from that. You could get a couple of small D hooks and hang it from those. Or you could do what I did and that was to nail the sucker to the wall in the four corners! I went into the corners where the cork is but if your nails are long enough, you could go right through the frame. Entirely up to you.
11. 
    Now this is the point where I said to Brian, “Oh crap! How is going to stay closed?” And upon seeing the look of laughter on his face, I said, “For some reason I thought gravity would help me out there.” Well! Luckily I had some magnets kicking around. So we grabbed two and hot glued one to each frame to hold the frames closed. Crisis averted! And as a bonus, they make the tiniest *click* noise, so I can hear that it’s closed properly. NOTE: I wouldn’t use Rare Earth magnets or anything super strong for this. You don’t want to have to yank on the door in order to open it! I got my pack of magnets for Dollarama and they’re just strong enough to hold the lightweight door closed.
12. 
    As a sewer, I have amassed a huge amount of dressmaker pins. To the point where I have two pincushions and they’re overflowing. So I thought what better way to use some of those pins up, than by sticking them into the cork to hang my jewelry off of? I stuck the pins in at a slight angle and then hung all the shiny objects on them! None of my necklaces are super heavy but if you have some that are, you might want to use two pins or even dab a bit of hot glue where the pin meets the cork, to secure it in there.

Step back and admire your handiwork! Once all your baubles are hung safely inside, you just flip the front part closed and it looks like a cool piece of artwork on your wall!

The dollars and cents:

1. Canvas frames – 0$ (I already had these on hand from years ago. I got mine at Michaels for something like 8.99$ on sale for a 2-pack. If they’re not on sale, use a 40% off coupon!)
2. Roll of white wrapping paper – 0$ (already on hand but I bought it at Dollarama)
3. Cork – 4$ (4 packages of 6 squares from Dollarama)
4. Hinges – 0$ (already had the chest on hand but these are usually anywhere from 1-3$ from Dollarama or Home Depot)
5. Small magnets – 0$ (already on hand but I did get mine at Dollarama)
6. Paint and paintbrushes – 0$ (already on hand, but Dollarama sells paint and brushes for a buck a piece)
7. Hot glue – 0$ (alread on hand)
8. Stencil – 0$ (I printed it at home on my printer)
9. Dressmaker pins – 0$ (already on hand)
10. Total cost: 4.20$ (with tax)

I’ve never looked for them there, but I’m sure you can also find dressmaker pins at Dollarama. If not, any store with a fabric section should carry them for a couple of bucks. You could use pushpins but make sure they aren’t too long for your cork. My cork was fairly thin so the dressmaker pins being pushed in at an angle worked out well.

So there you have it! That’s how my jewelry went from being cat toys to having its own secret spot on the wall of our bedroom. And for less than a fiver! Can’t go wrong with that.