I finally cleaned off my dresser.

And I'm revealing my secret project from a while ago.  Remember this:

I finally had time to get back to it after the "my spray adhesive bottle doesn't have a spray nozzle on it" debacle.

Anyway...

The top of my dresser had been really messy for a while -- like REALLY messy  -- like so messy I was too embarrassed to take a before picture of it messy.   I FINALLY got all of  my jewelry organized which was most of the mess and got rid of TONS of receipts too (why do I hold on to this stuff ??-- grocery store receipts-- not even big purchase receipts-- I'm like a receipt hoarder).

LOTS of jewelry that I don't wear or haven't worn in a long time went straight to Goodwill.  I was able to consolidate most of the rest into 1 jewelry box (that I'd like to make over someday soon) BUT I still had a bunch of big, chunky necklaces that didn't really work in a "dainty" jewelry box.

I knew exactly what I wanted to make to hold these, but I couldn't find all the right materials until a few weeks ago.  So I finally made myself a place to store my necklaces and get them off the top of my dresser!

Here's what I did:

First I gathered all my materials--

• a small cork board (this was the hardest piece to find-- big ones a plenty-- small ones not so much)
• a fabric remnant
• coordinating ribbon
• matte white spray paint
• spray adhesive
• hot glue/hot glue gun (not pictured)
• embellishments (as desired)

I watched Goodwill for weeks for a small cork board to refinish, but it just wasn't showing up for me so I had to buy one new.  All the big stores-- Target, Walmart etc.  only had large ones though.  Luckily I happened to find a small one (11" x 17") at JoAnn's Fabrics for $9.99 plus I had a 50% off coupon-- score!

I would've preferred real wood, but... this will do.

I covered the cork part to avoid overspray, but in hindsight I totally could have skipped this step.  I wasn't sure just how permanent the fabric would be, but it's pretty darn permanent so it really doesn't matter what the cork underneath it looks like.

 I'm a cheapo (obviously) so I bought the $1.97 spray paint at Walmart-- I didn't even spring for the $3.74 can -- and so far it seems that I DIDN'T need to spring for a more expensive can.  I'll let you know if anything changes though.

Cut your fabric to fit.  I cut mine just a tiny bit smaller because I knew when it was wet it would stretch a bit but you could also cut it a bit larger and trim it down with an Exacto blade if you prefer.

Make sure before you do the spray adhesive step that you cover the newly painted frame part-- otherwise you will forever have a sticky frame.

I used Elmer's Craft Bond-- #1. because it was the cheapest one I could find and #2 because it was the smallest can I could find and I wasn't sure how much I'd be using it for the future.  It was pretty fun to use though so ...

I  followed the instructions on the can- it took just a few minutes.  Then I added a ribbon accent around the edges with hot glue.  I've still got a thing or two to learn about hot glue as mine got a little thick in places-- if you look closely (note-- DON'T look too closely :)  ) you'll see small sections that are not as flat as I'd like them to be.

Then I just added a length of ribbon to the back with hot glue and a couple of fabric flower embellishments that I made and... there you have it!

ugh-- that corner... that's where I had the most trouble with the hot glue getting all gloppy on me. 

 One custom jewelry holder.  With some awesome fabric!  I'm kind of in love with it.