Hanging Jewelry Organizer How To

A few years ago I was at my girlfriend's house and saw that she had her jewelry neatly organized on a board that she had hanging up in her closet. I asked her to make one for me, which she did. I hung it up on the wall just outside my closet. Up until then, my jewelry was all over the place. I could never find my earrings and my necklaces would constantly end up in one big tangled heap.

A big factor in this was that I kept my jewelry in my jewelry box. Because I don't have any drawers in my room that lock or that it could fit in, my jewelry box stayed right on top of my dressing table. That means it was easily accessible to my toddler girls who love to dress up with mommy's stuff. So when I wanted to wear a pair of earrings or a necklace sometimes I would have to search in the toy box. The hanging jewelry organizer was just outside of their reach, so it was the perfect solution for me. No earrings in the toy box, necklaces hanging individually not in a big heap and a beautiful wall display at the same time.

This fall I decided to make some jewelry organizers for friends and family. It is a pretty simple process. Once you have all your materials assembled, it will probably take you about half an hour in labor time to complete this project.

• 11x14" canvas board (about 1/4 inch thick)
• 11x14" piece corkboard or sound board (about 1/8-1/4" thick)
• 13x16" piece of quilt batting
• multi-purpose spray adhesive
• light duty stapler with staples
• fabric you'd like to use, cut to approximately 14x17"
• ribbon
• tacks

You can make your board any size you want depending on the supplies you can find. I like the 11x14" size. I have made boards bigger and smaller.

Canvas Board - I usually pick this up at Michael's using one of my 40-50% off coupons because they can be a little spendy when you purchase them there. I have also seen these at Big Lot's at a very reasonable price in all sizes. The canvas board is canvas stretched over a wooden frame and stapled to the wood on the back.

Cork Board - I was making several jewelry boards, so I went to the Home Depot and had them precision cut one very large piece of sound board, which is basically cork board, into several 11x14" pieces. If you are planning to just make one for yourself or as a gift to someone, you can pick up corkboard at Michaels, Joann's Fabrics, Wal-Mart or Target.

Spray adhesive - this stuff is great, but use in a well ventilated area. I usually spray it on in my garage with the garage door wide open. The brand I am currently using is 3M Super 77 Multi-Purpose Adhesive.

Quilt Batting - this is the stuff that goes into quilts. Pick up at any fabric store or Wal-Mart. I know that you can get it in different sizes. I am not too sure about the different thicknesses. I use a batting that is fairly thin. Just enough to give the board cushion and nice rounded edges but not too thick that its hard to stick tacks through it.

Tacks - I have used all kinds from plain to decorative, plastic office tacks to metal furniture tacks. Just use what works for you.

 Let's get started.

1. Spray the spray adhesive on the front of the canvas board and on the back of the cork board. Stick the two together.

2. Spray the front of the cork board with spray adhesive, carefully lay down the quilt batting evenly on top of the cork board and smooth it out. Now the canvas board, cork board and quilt batting are attached in a threesome.

3. Turn the threesome over and start stapling the quilt batting down onto the wooden frame. I would staple in the middle of the frame so you leave room to staple the fabric down with a nice finish.

4. After the quilt batting is stapled all over the back of the threesome, take a scissors and cut away any excess quilt batting. 

 5. Lay your fabric down on the table with the side you want showing away from you and facing the table. Position the threesome evenly on the fabric and begin stapling the fabric to the board. Make sure that you turn the edges of the fabric in before you staple them to give the back of the board a nice finish. Work diligently to make your corners look really neat with none of the quilt batting or canvas showing.

6. Next you are going to arrange your ribbon. For this particular board I was able to find some metal mesh ribbon (at Michael's Black Friday sale!). This mesh ribbon is great for a jewelry board because you can hang your earrings right into the mesh. If you are using plain ribbon, use ribbons of varying thickness to decorate your board. The ribbons are decorative but utilitarian as you will hang your earrings right on them. I used both the mesh ribbon and a very thin gold wire ribbon thinking I could use either for hanging my earrings.

7. I like to put decorative bows and other embellishments for my boards, so I've included a video tutorial below on how I made the bow. It is very simple. All you'll need is ribbon, needle, thread, scissors and a glue gun. In the tutorial you will also see that I use a little piece of foam to help me with making the bow. This particular one I found in a sewing kit that I bought. If you don't have one already, you can pick one up at any craft or fabric store.

8. When you've made your bow, you can attach it to the board using a hot glue gun (as illustrated in the video).

9. I finish up the board by securing down the ribbon using tacks. I used brass furniture tacks that I picked up at Ace Hardware. I use additional tacks to hang up my necklaces.

If you love this idea, but aren't particularly motivated to go out and make your own hanging jewelry organizer, you can visit my Etsy store and purchase one of the boards I have already made. You can also view my portfolio to get some ideas on how you can use fabric and ribbon combinations to make something really pretty.

Lastly, I really appreciate any feedback you can give -- if you found this posting useful or you decide to make one of these jewelry organizer boards, let me know if you found the directions easy to follow.

If you have further interest in the subject of jewelry storage, I recommend the following hubs:

• Types of Jewelry Boxes and What is a Jewelry Armoire by H. Folly
• Best Jewelry Organizers by Writer Guy