Projects for the New Year

It's January and I have a new digital camera! Hallelujah. I'm offering the same DIY/Craft class at school as I did last semester so I'm looking forward to meeting my new students and seeing what creative projects they come up with.

The first projects I'll be working on are this storage container created by ReadyMade Magazine. It's Pringles cans covered in Contact Paper and glued together. So cool.

I'll also be refinishing some beautiful teak lawn chairs and of course, working on my jewelry display boxes.

What are you working on?

Jewelry Display Box 2.0

I started work on my second jewelry display box prototype. I need to come up with a catchier name than a "jewelry display box" but I haven't figured one out yet. I think I may call each version or different size a different name. Like "Chloe" or "Illiana." Maybe I'll do city names. One style can be "Savannah" and another "Paris." If you think of something fancy, let me know okay?

I'm working on two right now. They are smaller than my first one but I'm reworking the design so I wanted to work small and then go big. I'll be working on these all week and will post updates as they come along.

Ecstatic! First Jewelry Display Box Complete!

Wow. I did it.



I completed the first 100% handmade version of my idea. It was fascinating to create something I had been thinking about for so long, and to see it turn out so well!



I learned so much in the process of just making one of these babies. I can't wait to implement what I learned on the next one. A few of my friends decided to do a craft swap this summer, so this version was mailed off yesterday to the girl I got in the swap.

I went with purple because it is her favorite color. The next one is going to be done in a deep blue for another friend's birthday. I want to have a few under my belt before I start selling them on Etsy.

I still can't believe I did it! Go me!!

Using a Light Box

I followed this tutorial yesterday to make a light box. It didn't take very long once I had assembled all of the materials.

A few things I've already learned:

1. The tutorial above suggests only leaving two flaps to control the light source coming in from above. I would suggest leaving three or following this tutorial where the entire top is covered in cloth or paper.

2. I grabbed this box because it was free and because I thought I would need a large box to work with the frames I'm making. It was just too big. Perhaps if I had an apartment or house it would be okay, but after making it I looked around my little storage locker and realized I had no where to store it. I'm going to make a smaller one that is tall (to accommodate a frame).

Here are some of the photos I took yesterday when playing with the new light box:



Whoohoo! Such clarity! This is a lovely bracelet from Out of the Blue, a sweet little shop on Etsy.

Here is a sneak peak of one of my first prototypes:

Again, I'm looking to create a jewelry display that shows off the beauty of one's jewelry while still being very functional. That cute little owl necklace is from Polished Two on Etsy and the gorgeous turquoise necklace is from Hey Renee Designs on Etsy as well.

I'm really impressed with how these photos turned out with the light box. Now I'm wondering how to create a similar, built-in situation on a wall so that I can take photos of the frames while they're hanging.

I'd like to be able to switch out color on the "wall" that they hang on as I'll be making different colored frames and want to show how they'd look in different styled homes.

Last shot - I'm working on hooks and how to best install them. I've got to get just the right drill bits to make sure the wood doesn't split as it did on my first prototype. I used a shadowbox that I picked up on sale from Aaron Brothers, but in my newer models I'm building everything from scratch, so I'm hoping that won't be a problem:

Welcome to My New Blog!

Hello! I've started this blog on Blogger because it is so much easier for me to modify and design than my Squarespace one. Eric and I will continue to keep our website and I know Eric will keep his blog on the site as well.

I've been working on an idea for several months now and would like to share it with you. It deals with my jewelry problem. Well, I don't want to call it a "problem", because having all this fantastic jewelry is surely not a problem, but storing it has become one. This is a photo of what my current storage situation looks like:

I love all of the little boxes that my jewelry comes in when I buy it off Etsy.com, but I can't keep cardboard on the boat (increases the chances of vermin getting aboard), and I'm a visual person, so I really want to see my options every morning or evening when I'm putting on my "glitz." I have researched jewelry organizing solutions and have come up short. While there are several functional options, I couldn't find a stylish solution. Jewelry is beautiful on and off of you, why not display jewelry in a functional, design-oriented manner when it's not on your person? And so, I am working on a line of jewelry displays that will do just that.

First step, take a look at how much and what types of jewelry I have:

I have a large collection of necklaces, some earrings and very few bracelets and rings. As I work on this new line I have to decide if I should group jewelry displays by color, style, sets, or materials. Also, should I create separate displays for necklaces, bracelets and rings, or go multi-use? I'm working these questions out now with my first proto-types. I'd love to know how you store your jewelry at home (or on the boat :)

Tell me:
1) how do you store your jewelry?
2) do you like how you store it?
3) would you be open to another way of storing it?
4) would you like to incorporate design/style into your jewelry storage?

These are the types of questions that have been keeping me up at night!